- Kris & Liz -

This past Saturday we photographed Kris & Liz's wedding. They are two of the most wonderful people we've ever met and we had such a great time! Its always a blessing for us to do what we love and work with such great people! Below is a slideshow put together to give a preview. Enjoy!


Notes

One of my favorite things about being in a relationship is the different ways communication happens. There is the obvious - words - and there are the looks and touches. One of my favorite means of communications is through notes. You remember notes don't you?! I'm sure everyone passed notes in school at one point or another. Melissa and I have always written notes to each other and still do. I love them even more now that we're married - there's something very romantic about it. It is something that isn't hard to do but it takes a minute of your time to stop and write; sending a message to another person. It shows that you were thinking of them. Its even more special now in this day and age with text messages and the 200 social networking websites! The reason I thought to write this was because Melissa left me a note just the other day.

Below are two pictures of notes we've recently written for each other. You'll notice that mine is the one with the really small handwriting.


FAMILY PROJECT

Ok, so there's something I wanted to share with everyone. Some may know about this and some might not.

When our girls were born (05/16/07) I was inspired by the entire experience. Having children is one of the best things that can ever happen to someone. I wanted to take the girls pictures, everyday! You can see all over the place the people who do self portraits for a year or will take one picture every year for 20 years of someone or themselves. There are many variations but you know what I mean.

My idea was kind of similar but a bit more evolved. I wanted to photograph the girls everyday for much longer than a year. For 18 years. ...So you're probably like, "Yeah, whatever", right? Well here's the best part. Its a family project. And my goal isn't to take a picture of their faces in the same way each day like what you'd expect. I wanted to capture each of them in the day. So whether they are playing together and happy or crying in the corner, the picture has to represent them in that day. So how is this possible to do? Remember I said it was a family project? It doesn't matter who takes the picture as long as its taken from someone in our family. I'm expecting to get the girls each a digital camera by their 3rd birthday so they can start taking pictures of themselves.

It's been almost two years. As of yesterdays pictures, we made it to 665 days. Seems like a lot but when I think about Ava & Bella being alive for that long it seems so short. I remember right after the girls were born I told my family about what I was going to be doing. They kept saying, "thats what all fathers say when their kids are first born". It's gonna happen and Melissa and I are committed! Its actually become a habit for me to take their pictures everyday. Definitely a good habit though.

So I guess I'll invite you all to the show we're gonna have in 16 years! I want to line up all of the images, printed small, side by side going all the way around a room(large room!). When/If we have more children, we'll be adding to the pictures up til the 18th year so you'll see another line of pictures added each time a child, or children if we have twins again, is born.

Below is an image that was taken a couple days ago. Ava is the goof in the bag and Bella is the mastermind in the back trying to get into the drawers.



Backyard Play

This past Saturday was SOOOO NICE so we had to go outside to play. Below is a little video of some of the images that were taken that day. The girls, as you'll see, are getting so big and kinda crazy! I love when Melissa and I get to play outside with them! Its great exercise to, lol.


Weekend Trip(ping)

Melissa & I went up to stay at her parents house this weekend. We had to meet with a couple up there who ended up being really nice!! We were up near Harrisburg; about a half an hour north in this little town. There is usually this sign going into town carved out of a log that says "Git-R-Done" and I was hoping we could get a picture but someone knocked it down, lol. It'll be up again, it always ends up being put back by someone.

Have you ever had your camera with you and saw something that was pretty awesome and totally didn't even think about taking a picture until after it happens? We were driving on some highway and we were looking to the right in a big open field filled with like 75 birds. Geese I'm guessing. So while looking we saw a dog run towards them from a set of bushes about 50 yards away. Not one bird moved at all and this dog just ran over to them and snatched one in its mouth! Still, no other bird moved while the dog took a few big chomps on the bird an walked away! It was so rediculous!

Coming home today from up there we passed by this 80's pick up truck with a HUGE black bear in the back of it. It was just looking off the side! We assumed it was fake/stuffed/whatever but WHAT? Melissa and I turned to each other and I said, "Where are we?!" Another wish we had our camera ready moment. Good times though!

This picture, taken by Melissa, was going up the mountain Saturday morning...