wedding slideshow

Well, after a couple of weeks of hard work, the pictures of the San Diego wedding are up in two slideshow on my website.
robindphotography.com
Proofs page and then "weddingslideshow" and "receptionslideshow".
Here are a couple of my fav's.

a couple of pictures

I found Kayla and Collin last night, heads together, while Kayla read to Collin.
I love moments like those, because as anyone with more than one child knows,
there are lots of the not so nice moments between them!
I took a quick picture of Kayla before school today. Picture day at school!
She looked so cute I had to get a picture myself.

Our little Aqua Star

Today was very exciting.
Collin moved up from "Aqua Gliders" to "Aqua Star" in swim class!
I was so proud of him.
All of skills were observed by the pool deck manager and she came over
and told me he's now a "star". :)
So even though he is just 3, he is now working on the backstroke and freestyle.
Now THAT was something funny to see.
Miss Stacey was teaching him the freestyle and so he tried it alone, and there are his little arms, scooping forward... while the rest of his body slowly sunk down, down, down.
But his arms just kept going.
We would all have a good laugh and then straighten our faces when he came to the top so he didn't think we were laughing at him.
He'll get it... it's just something new.
The backstroke came much easier and he is doing well with it.
Collin told me today that he wants to start back up in gymnastics too, so Tim and I will figure out whether he wants to do soccer or gymnastics and add that next month.

Meanwhile, Kayla begins her drama class tonight at the Valley Youth Theater in Phoenix. I hate that she missed the first class last week while ill, but oh well.
Hopefully she'll get comfortable quickly.

I am shooting my first engagement session this Friday at the Royal Palms, so that will be a new experience for me. Then we have our family pictures this Saturday morning. We have not had our family picture done in 6 years. How lame!
I'm fortunate that Jen, at O'Grace Photography gives this picture session to all of her employees for their holiday gift. Otherwise, we'd be going another year without a family portrait! LOL

Lucy in the sky with.... wings

Well we almost lost Lucy tonight. And I mean that in the permanent sense, not in the can't find her sense.
I will always remember the way she looked.
It was one of the most comical and awful things all at the same time.
I was in the kid's bathroom... door to the hall open, Kayla in the shower and me trying to condition her hair.
So the shower curtain was open half way, and Kayla starts laughing hysterically and pointing to the hall, "ha ha ha... he he he look at Lucy!"
Frustrated, I ask her to please stand still so that I can put the leave-in conditioner in her hair.
More hysterical laughter and then, "Mom she is walking really funny"!
So I turn around and then... "AHHHHHHH"! I scream.
There is Lucy with her head fully and tightly in a plastic bag which is filled with steam from her trying to breathe. She was starting to tip and wobble as she walked from lack of oxygen (or maybe she couldn't see with all that steam).
I ripped the bag from her head and she gratefully took a huge breath and ran off.
I examined the bag, wondering how in the world she did it. I realized that she had stuck her head in to an open cracker box to eat the last few crackers.
Upon pulling her head out of the box, the bag stayed on and I guess she came to find us to help her.
Another reason not to leave her out in the house when we're not here.
That bag was so tight around her head I honestly do not know what would have happened if no one helped her.

photographing the band

Last night I met up with my brother and his band at Crabby Don's bar.
I was there to take some pictures of the band, but it was also so fun watch
them perform. The whole band is great... love their lead singer, Katie.
Chris sang one song as well and he was awesome.
It was fun to bring home the pictures and start editing them.
I got to use lots of my new fun actions on them from Totally Rad Actions.
Check out their website and be amazed at:
http://totallyradactions.com/#rockin-actions-for-adobe-photoshop-7a1d9
There is a great example of what an action can do for an image on their homepage.
I had such fun using some crazier actions that you can't really use on wedding pictures or portraits.
This weekend was a blast, with a potluck dinner at Chris and Kelsey's place,
and a fun grand opening party of a great outdoor mall near us.
It is going to be hard to get back in to the swing of things tomorrow. Monday! Ugh.

my shirt

This just warms my heart:
Collin began sleeping with one of my shirts (had to be a pink one because I am a girl, he said) while I was out of town.
The habit has stuck and now when he gets in bed at night he "needs one of Mommy's shirts to sleep with."
When I was a little girl, if I couldn't find my "softy" (blanket) I would sleep with one of my Dad's flannel shirts.
Then when Tim and I started dating (I was 20 at the time- WOW) I would sleep with one of his shirts if he had to go out of town.
How cute and sweet that Collin finds comfort in this too!
On another note, poor Kayla has walking pneumonia and I learned an important lesson today:
Walking Pneumonia DOES NOT mean it is fine for them to go walking around as usual.
Although I kept Kayla home from school, I took her to coffee and on errands as I usually would. I can't tell you how many Moms I upset today, including one that came up to me as Kayla hacked away and said, "Your daughter seems very ill."
As in, "stop exposing us and leave you terrible Mom".
If only they knew that I am one of the most germaphobic conscientous Moms out there.
I would have been irritated too if a Mom brought her kid to a public place in that condidition.
I just really thought she'd be just fine "walking around" today.
We'll be staying home tomorrow!!!

wedding

I was so fortunate to be asked to shoot Mike and Marie's wedding.
Julie's Mom was so nice to give me the opportunity and to include
me in the beach house as well!
It was fun to have creative control over the wedding pictures, and I had
two great assistants with great artistic eyes to help me.
I can't wait to finish editing all the pictures and get a slideshow up on my website.
The couple could not have been more in love, more gracious or more low-key and easygoing. How lucky for me! :)
Here are a few pictures from the big day.
Many more to come!!!

Friendship

I was 15 when I met Julie.
We instantly recognized our identical ridiculous sense of humor.
We could have fun in a room full of people or all by ourselves.
Getting in to trouble was a hobby, and laughing was our joy.
I was lucky to spend a whole weekend with Julie in San Diego,
and although I would have never thought it possible, we laughed
harder than we ever have before. This will go down as one of the best
weekends of our friendship I'm sure!
I also got to spend hours talking to Julie's Mom, Joyce, who we can
joke with wildly as well. What a treat for me!
I love them both dearly.
Julie has a husband much like my own, thoughtful, helpful, understanding with a dry sense of humor. :)
So although we tested his patience more than once, Eric was a good sport and put up with our antics.
Spending a few days getting to know Zach and Alyssa (the kids) a little better was
a treat too. What beautiful and well mannered kids.
Most of all though, I enjoyed laughing, laughing, laughing!!!
Thanks to Julie's Mom, we got to stay in a beach house on the Bay.
Wow- what a beautiful place to wake up to.
Attached are some pictures.
One when we were juniors in high school, the rest taken this past weekend.
Some things never change.

surreal

As I type, my Dad is having a stent placed in the main artery to his heart.
It's a common simple procedure, but it is still a shock to all of us.
A week ago we thought he was in perfect health, and then all of a sudden
a blockage was discovered.
It's tough to digest that he is in the hospital having this procedure, but even tougher because he is one of my best friends.
This is one of those crazy medical problems that are extremely serious, but once they're fixed... they're fixed!! Just like that.
So I just want it to hurry up and be fixed!
surreal

My babies

You grow and you grow and you change every day.
But each of you has a certain look or laugh
that brings me right back to when you were a baby.