Willow, Willow, Willowwww

This is a serious post about a serious girl from Tacoma. She has beautiful dark hair, a shy smile and she is very serious about life....Just look at the picture below....




THAT COULDN'T BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH! Here's some recent shots of my girl Willow up in T-Town. I have posted about her before and she is just a beautiful person with a zest for life that is contagious. She came to visit this weekend and we just chilled with Shannon and Kristy. I get so amped up when she visits. This time we came up with a challenge that we are going to take part in to use some of those creative juices we spark in each other. We brainstormed on all sorts of props that could inspire a shoot, and then closed our eyes and picked out three at a time. Stay tuned for more details and fun shots that we come up with. The first challenge in this month and it won't disappoint:)
I just took a couple shots of her in the studio because she was in love with her hair as usual and we wanted to capture the do before she goes in for her 1,000th change of color and cut. This is her famous cat pose that has a hiss with it that will scare a dog!
Whenever Shannon and I see her, we always sing her name three times like in the title. It's just fun and I wish I could record a tester to give you a taste. She is as crazy/fun and she looks and I hope the shots make you as happy as she makes me. Thanks for the invigorating day W!

Seeley Night!

About a week ago a few of us girls got the chance to go to an Amy Seeley intimate concert. have I mentioned that I LOVE that girl! We went as her biggest fans. Shannon's very good and incredibly talented, friend is Charity below. She is one of those girls that when Shannon and I get these wild ideas that seem impossible to do, we always turn to Charity. I swear she can do anything...and do it well. We started joking about being Amy's biggest fans and that one day we were going to make t-shirts. Well, that's just what we did. We printed off her album cover and Charity made the shirt a reality. They are so cute and Amy just adored them. We had a great time that night and Amy was amazing as always. She has such a stage presence that captivates the audience that I haven't been able to witness because I never got to see her in concert. If you ever have the chance you have to go see her perform! Thanks for the shirts Charity, you are a rockstar yourself.
Self portrait...can't you see the concentration in my eyes:)
Shannon and her Zoolander look. Isn't that shirt so cute. She put this badass stitching all over it. You can see it in the picture below this one a bit better.
Krazy Kristy (Wreckless Photography) thought the shirts were so cute that she wanted to LOVE them. This was Shannon making fun of her:) Thanks for the great night girls. Amy, you're the best.
Just a little treat for you all. The benefits of watching this blog is that you get little never seen before treats, of Amy:) She literally made up this song on the way to the show! Can you even imagine that? Why is it that everyone else's talent is always so much more amazing than your own. Wouldn't it be the most amazing thing in the world to be able to make up songs whenever your little heart desired? She's brilliant and damn funny.

More Christmas

These were a couple more of my favorite moments during Christmas vacation. I love the one below because this photo encompasses everything that a parent works towards. My niece, Jahnna, was come over with emotion Christmas morning when she received a red, Nintendo DS from her parents. The first thing she did was go over to thank Michelle with the most gracious hug and told her that she loved her so much. What a proud moment and I am so glad that I was able to capture it on that magical morning. Look at that beautiful smile that Michelle is wearing like a badge:)
Tré was so sick this day but he was determined to go snow machining, so that is just what he did....and he puked right when he got home:(
Brother and Sister...there is nothing greater than these years with siblings. They love each other unconditionally and they think the other is the best thing since sliced bread! I am so proud of all my nieces and nephews and it is always the most precious thing when I get to spend time with all of them and to see my kid's eyes gleam when they are with their cousins.
I can't wait until they are all able to look back at this photo and remember everything about the Christmas of 2007. I hope that it triggers all sorts of amazing memories, smells, and love in their minds when their all grown up. Wait, I can definitely wait until they are all grown up, but this picture makes me think of their future and love for each other:)

Christmas

This was a Santa that we ran into on our way up to Alaska for our Christmas vacation. We are pretty sure that this was the "real" Santa and the kids agree. The week before we went on Christmas vacation Jalena was down with a 5 day FEVER and then it ended in Strep throat. Well, Jamison got the fever on the airplane and then rest of the vacation can best be summed up in a little song that we wrote. We ended up staying with my brother (Jim ) and sister-in-law (Michelle). From the moment that we got off th plane into 39 below zero temperatures, everything else went downhill. But it definitely put the 10 below days that we had the rest of the visit, into perspective:)


This is little Merok and he was not so happy to get the Portland Plague (that we didn't bring). I still claim that we were the ones that brought the strep and not the flu that we all got! The Hajduke's are the ones to blame for the Pukes!We all passed around this puke bucket and some of us hit it and some of us didn't even come close. This flu was vicious and it probably went through 30 people in the family and friends before we came home. We have never ALL been hit by a sickness and I hope we can chalk it up as the only time!
I have seen better days! This was Christmas Eve and Jake had to pull off Christmas with the help of my sister (T-Rex arms)
So the song goes something like this...
On the 12th day of Christmas, Fairbanks brought to us...
12 Loads of laundry
11 Rolls of Charmin
10 Lips are burning
9 Days a'wasted
8 Pounding Headaches
7 Scorching fevers
6 Crying Kids
5 Pukeing Pails
4 Destroyed undies
3 Swollen eyelids
2 Strep Cases
And a Migraine that made Jim puke!

It wasn't all bad though. We ended up with two days of playing and the kids had a blast snow machining and ice skating on our friend's rink. It was great to be with family and we were VERY blessed this Christmas.
I guess this is why it took so long to write about this vacation because it wasn't so fun to rehash. It's a memory though. Here's to better health in the New Year!

Crave Portland

The kids and I did the Crave Portland fashion show the other week representing our friends at Fancy Pants Children's Boutique. It was hysterical and I had Shannon and Shyla there for moral support. The kids had a blast and they didn't get scared to go out on the runway, which was surprising. Shannon's little girl was there as well shining like a real rockstar and Shannon's good friend, Charity had her two beautiful little girls there as well. Fancy Pants made there presence known and I think it was a big hit. You have to go check out their store. Thanks to Deena and Ninette over at FP and to Shyla for being my extra hands! Thanks also to Shannon and Charity for filling in with their Super Models last minute.
3215 SE 192nd
Suite 100
Vancouver, Washington

Jamison was hammin' it up!
Nothing like a once in a lifetime chance to match your daughter on the runway:)

Simple things...

This was our trip to Sunriver a while back and I worked on a few that evoked emotion for me and my family. Dan and Tiana so graciously invited up to spend the weekend with them and it was so awesome. The kids couldn't get enough of the snow and we laughed the whole time we were there. O.k. so the kids weren't the only ones that couldn't get enough! Check out the rest of the shoot on my featured section of my website...the Happy Holidays feature.
We found some ice patches to drag the kids on.
Notice all their nervous little hands in this shot. Don't you remember sitting on Santa's lap and being so nervous because of all the anticipation of waiting to finally have a turn with him and then ask him for that year's desire:)
Jamie was awfully excited to see Rudolf in the middle of the hotel shop. I love the inquisitive finger touching the red nose!
No one made it past this slick spot without falling at least once. I really felt guilty about getting everything on camera and not helping....a little:) It was the funniest thing ever. Why is watching someone fall on ice so dang funny?

Amy Seely

I don't even know where to start with this girl. We met in San Diego and she was a surprise quest at the workshop that I went to and from the moment I heard her voice...she rocked my soul! Recently Shannon and I have got to spend more time with her and get to know her because she lives here. She has an amazing spirit to match her angelic voice and she makes me laugh! The other night we went to a friend's house and Amy played a couple jams for us and I get goose bumps every time. This obviously doesn't do her voice justice, but it was amazing nonetheless! This is one of her new songs that isn't even out on cd yet...so enjoy and you have to check out her music.