Sifting and Found Some Gems

Thanksgiving last year was chaotic. The type of chaos that only big family holidays can provide. During our stay I rocked out a few (too many) photo shoots. Over four days, including two travel days, in Roswell, New Mexico I did photos of little Christopher, darling Ava, Grandma and Grampa and their crew, my baby Joshua and Madison -- **okay okay, they aren't babies anymore**, and my beautiful sister and her daughter Alison. Oh yeah, and I threw Hudson his birthday party!! Seriously. I said chaotic, right?

In the whirlwind of it all I never got around to blogging about my sister, Kerri, and her daughter Alison. I was 14 years old when Alison was born. My first memories of her include my Mom and Kerri bringing her home from the hospital. They drove to New Mexico from Arizona the day after she was born, and by the time they arrived it was late at night. As they came into the house I heard a cat meow. That cat woke me from my sleep. I found out a few minutes after that the cat was my first niece. She meowed a lively meow for several weeks before her cry turned into what a real baby's cry should sound like. My best memories of Kerri and Alison have come during the 15 that have passed since Alison's birth. I was stoked to get to snag some photos of Kerri and Alison just being them.

They interact with one another as though they are teenage sisters giggling at every little thing that happens; which made my job really easy!!

Here are a few from the day...

Dodger Dog, Dawg!

I had a lot of dogs growing up. There was Taffy, who was actually my Grunner's dog. Taffy was a Pug with a scowlin' mug. She always had a sour look on her face since her bottom teeth jutted out further than the rest of her mouth. Tiger was a stray that we picked up off the street. He was a horrible dog. He even jumped up on my great-grandmother and made her break her hip. Bad dog.

Um... let's see... there was also a Doberman, but I forget her name because I was so young. Then there was Taz. He was a golden colored Rottweiler. Loved loved loved Taz. He was huge, but he thought he was a lap dog. He would follow me to school in the mornings which was kinda embarrassing at times, but it was also a little nice to have a walking buddy.

I think that there may have been more, but those are the front runners in my mind.

Fraser had zero dogs. Null. None. Zilch. Zippo.

We tried to have a dog a few years ago, but we ended up giving her to a friend after about a month of owning her. Fraser does NOT do well with dogs.

So when we went into a pet store and saw the cutest little Bassett Hound, I died. Died. I begged and begged and begged for a few days. My birthday came and went, and I pouted. And pouted. And pouted... until I came home one day to find a little Bassett Hound who couldn't run without tripping over his own ears. Again, I died. It took a few days to name him, but we finally settled on Dodger. Not for the baseball team, but because he's long like a hot dog, and what's the best kind of hot dog out there.... a Dodger dog, dawg. :o)

P.S. Fraser is very slowly falling in love with Dodger -- even though he would never admit it. ha!

Here's a few of that other sweet little boy in my life...

Las Vegas Family Photographer :: Patai Family

It was last year during my internship for School Psychology. That's when I met Kim. I was getting my high school experience at Green Valley High School, and I had also just purchased my first dSLR camera. I was trying to build a portfolio for my website, and when the then School Psychologist introduced me to Kim my eyes were immediately drawn to an adorable photo of her little girl in her office.

I secretly wished that I knew Kim better because her daughter was uhhhh - dorable... and if I knew Kim better (or if I was a better business person) I would have asked if I could photograph her daughter, Olivia. I would have photographed her right then and there... in Kim's office... at the drop of a hat. Olivia was that cute... cute enough to make any photo look fantastic, no matter the backdrop!

One year later, and after a School Psychologist switch I am now the School Psychologist at Green Valley High School.

I finally got my wish. I finally got the entire Patai family (which is now a family of four) in front of my lens, and I could not be more stoked. You see, the Patai family is one of those families. One of those families that make you feel like you are a best friend the minute you say hello. One of those families that will do anything they can just to make sure that your day goes well. Kim is one of those people that tells you that you look skinny on a total fat day; and Adam is one of those people who will smile at you from 30 feet away down a long hallway just to let you know that he's happy he got to see you that day. Olivia and Vincent are the products of their wonderful parents. Both of their children have laughs that will make your darkest day flip to the bright side, and they exude a happiness that can only come from being loved so deeply during the short period of time in this world.

Soooo.....

I finally got my wish. :o)