Straighten Up!

Andrew was very brave today at the orthodontist's office. After having an expander for the last few months, it was finally the day to to have his braces put on. Let's remember this as our starting point:



And just a few minutes later the doctor got to work:



And this cool blue light cured the adhesives (I don't think I went blind taking pictures of it).



Cindy and I both had braces (Cindy twice) but we can't remember being as excited as Andrew is here. He was very brave and has a great attitude. We're all hoping for great results and that they can come off in 4-5 months.

Emily Update

Just a quick photo update of baby Emily. It's 10pm on Thanksgiving eve and I'm still working, so too tired to write much. Just thought somebody might like to see this cute shot of Emily with Cindy.

Janlee and Zach Wedding

I'm so excited to share a slideshow from the Johnson wedding. It's only the first wedding I've shot, but we had such a good time and captured such great images! My shooting partner, Asharae, has such a creative eye and between the two of us we captured the joy of the entire weekend.

Lighting Experiment

This afternoon the boys and I went to a local camera shop to look into a lighting kit for portrait photography, which I'd like to do more of. I have very little experience with studio-style lighting, so instead of making a purchase I rented a two-light kit with umbrellas and softboxes for the weekend. I brought it home, set things up, and started shooting.






With some trial and error I managed to get some decent shots. I'm sure with more experience I'll look back on these first shots as really amateurish, but it was fun to experiment. I learned a lot quickly and made some good progress just in the first hour. I do wish I had rented the backdrop stand as well. Next time....

Fireman Josh

This fall Josh started preschool and he is doing great! He likes going to "his school" while Andrew and Katie do their school at home. One of the yearly traditions at our preschool is the costume parade near Halloween. Josh loves fire engines and "fighter-fighters" (fire fighter), so dressing as a fireman was very fun for him!

We were all glad to be there to see Josh the Fireman in the costume parade!

Fall Fun

While the kids have enjoyed raking and playing in the many fallen leaves in our front yard, Adam has enjoyed taking photos of them IN the leaves! Emily was happy to lay in the leaf pile, though the sun was a bit bright for her! After jumping in the pile, Andrew, Josh and Katie agreed to a photo. Next time, we will try to capture all 4 of them in one photo!

Daddy's New Ride

Hah! I wish....actually, for about $150,000 less I did purchase a bicycle this weekend. After getting Andrew outfitted with a new set of wheels this summer I've been wanting to get a new bike to tool around town but hadn't found the right bike yet. Well on Saturday morning I strolled past a local bike shop and this one caught my eye...



It's an unassuming gray steel frame, single-speed bike. I was going to get a hybrid with a bunch of gears and nice disc brakes, but was worried I'd turn every ride with the kids into a race. I decided to keep it simple. I rode about 8 miles home after I bought it this afternoon and it rides great. It's been SO long since I've been on a bike, but as we work our way from two cars down to one it's been a priority for me to get something simple and rideable for local errands.

I especially love the flip-flopped white/black on the tires, rims, spokes. What a fun, quirky detail. One day I might want to throw some orange tires on there. Anyway, here's a few more glamour shots of the new wheels...