Trip to UT

On Monday morning I got home from a four day trip to Utah. Yes, I actually went without children. It was my first trip without kids (and Drew for that matter) - ever. I got to visit friends and family. I had several conversations without interruption. Amazing.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

We woke up at 4:30am on Thanksgiving day to drive into the city for the parade. We were in our seats by 6:30am. It was really crowded this year because of the mild weather. Surprisingly, the kids did great. Maggie loved the clowns that gave high-fives and Quincy loved the cheerleaders and bands.

Mack again

Mack is so cute in this picture that I couldn't resist posting it.

Snow White

Maggie dresses up as Snow White on a daily basis.

Quincy's drawing

This is a drawing that Quincy made. Can you see Drew with Mack on his lap sitting next to Quincy on the couch? BTW, those things with stems are flowers.

Yoda

I know that it is late, but this is Mack in his Halloween costume. He is suposed to be Yoda - a really cute Yoda.

Mack

Just Mack being cute again and Drew loving him.

Mack

Mack is getting more teeth. In this picture you can see his three little bottom teeth. He is getting his two front teeth on top.

Quincy

Sadly, Quincy is seldom home when I pull out my camera because she is at school. She is learning a ton - she loves to sing the preamble to the constitution at the dinner table.

Leaves are falling

Very rarely do I see a beautiful tree with leafy fall colors. All of the colorful leaves have already fallen.

Maggie turns 3

Tomorrow is really her birthday, but because of everyone's schedule we had her cake last night. We had a few friends over, balloons, party hats, cake and candy. Certainly enough for this three year old. Maggie is such a fun child - always a sunny and insightful outlook on life.

Mack

Another cute one of Mack taken shortly before shooting another wedding yesterday. It was my first wedding using my new camera. I have just started going through the images and already there is a huge improvement.

Maggie

We have really been into dressing up at our house. This is Maggie's 'princess' dress. She is also holding her new favorite 'baby' - a stuffed ostrich.

Three babies

Today I added Mack to my wall of terribly cute baby pictures. One row for each child. Oh, so cute.

Pumpkin patch

Today we went to Jones Pumpkin Farm and played for a while. We went on a hay ride, went through a corn maze, picked pumpkins, ate cookies and cider, and danced on the stage. It took a little convincing for Maggie to get out there, but she loved it.

Two little gourds

We went to Benedict's a few weeks ago and we found a hay bale maze, chickens, cows, pigs, and geese. It was really fun to watch the girls explore and react to the animals. They each picked out a gourd to take home. Maggie carried hers around for days like a baby (stage right) and Quincy was throwing hers around the room day one. Halloween (I still have to sing the song to spell that right!) is coming!

Leaf

It is fall in New England and the trees are slowly changing. Some of the trees are really beautiful. I took this picture with an improvised light table in my improvised studio (aka the kitchen table).

Little Man

Mack is turning into such a little man. He has three teeth now and is trying to pull himself up every chance he gets. It seems unreal that he is almost 8 months old.

FR - Day Three

Today is Quincy's first day of school. She has been so excited and has been dying to start kindergarten. She was ready to go about an hour before the bus was scheduled to come. She picked that flower for her teacher.

FR - Day Two

Yesterday we went to the Boston Temple. It was a nice time. Kayte is preparing to go to the Brazil Porto Alegre mission in December.

Family Reunion - Day One

All of Drew's siblings are in town this week and we have a lot planned. Today the guys (and some of the girls, though not me) spent the day building a tree house for the grandkids. It is bigger than I thought that it would be and is practically up to code...

Disclaimer

Okay, so my blog has been less than 'daily', but I have been sick for about the last month (Lyme disease) and it has been effecting my vision. Luckily, even if I see double for the rest of my life, I only need one eye to be a photographer...

Camera in the shop

Okay, so I know that there hasn't been a 'daily shoot' these days, but now I have a good excuse. While I was editing my last wedding, I noticed artifacts (caused by dust on the sensor) in some of my pictures. I am having my camera cleaned, so no new photos until next week probably. Sigh...

Mack blinks

For some reason I always love the shots that catch my kids blinking or making some unnatural looking face. It is funny to me I guess. I took this at the wedding I shot a couple of weeks ago. Yes, Mack was a guest. That is what happens when you hire a wedding photographer that has a suckling child!

Elder Brown

Chris is out the door in a few minutes. Hard to believe that he is heading to Brazil today. He has been wonderful with the girls and they adore him. We will miss him lots.

iStockphoto

I finally was accepted as an istock photographer. It took three tries - I didn't expect them to be so picky. Essentially, it is a chance for me to sell some work and maybe make a little money. I have heard of people making their living through stock photography, but I am not sure that is possible for me. We will see. This is one of the pictures that I took today to submit to istock. An antique camera that we had around the house.

QB in a tree

Today at the ward breakfast, Quincy climbed a tree. I had never really seen her climb a tree and I was glad to see that she wasn't afraid. She is cute - even in a tree...

Grandpa & Mack

What a lovely day! Mack got to play outside with Grandpa for quite a while. Love that.

Monroe Public Library

This is our public library. We use it a lot.

Strawberry picking

We went to Jones today to pick strawberries - Maggie, Quincy and I. I wasn't sure how Maggie was going to do, but she really impressed me. Her attention to detail and perseverance amounted to five pounds of strawberries. While Maggie and I were picking, Quincy was getting to know the little boy on the next row over and munching on berries. Classic.

Orange flowers

I love these orange flowers that grow wild everywhere in Fairfield County. I first arrived here in June (199?) as a missionary and was struck by their vivid color. To me, when I see these flowers, I know it is summertime in Connecticut. Anyone know what they are?

Mack up close

Mack is really pretty expressive, but whenever I pull out the camera he puts on a straight face. Well, today I stood over him and held the camera below my face so he could see my eyes. Some of the shots cut off a little too much of him (I couldn't see what I was shooting) but his expressions in all of them were so cute. I couldn't pick just one of these.

Pic for yesterday: Feeding Mack

The new fun game in our house is to play 'mother' and feed Mack. Poor guy gets more on his shirt than in his mouth.

Maggie's new boots

We went to Julian's (great brick oven pizza in Monroe!) for dinner tonight and Maggie had to wear her new boots. I think that they suit her.

Beach

We went to the beach today in Milford. It was very windy so we didn't last too long. The girls love being outside as long as the weather is ideal. I wonder where they get that from? QB had a blast.

Playing in the grass

This is a genuinely found moment. Of course, about one second later they heard me. They were so cute playing together in the grass, picking flowers and tickling each other. Happy girls.

Editing

I have been spending the day editing a shoot that I did a couple of weeks ago now. This is probably my favorite shot from the event.

Water park

Today we went to a water park with some friends. Quincy fell and scraped her knee pretty early on and it was a bit cold. Both girls spent more time observing than playing in the water. Quincy is wrapped in the blue towel.

Maggie again

I needed a picture to frame of Maggie. I set up my improvised studio in the kitchen and viola! I think it turned out pretty good. Of course an extremely cute subject helps.

Kayte and Maggie

Kayte is heading back to UT today. The girls had a lot of fun with her this week.

Water pump

Today I set out to photograph a home that is on the National Registry of Historic Homes located here in Monroe. There are a few. I discovered, though, that people live there - awkward. So, I saw a little run down barn off of 111 and found this cool old water pump. It is quite rusty and has lichen growing on it.

Girls

On the rocks at Southford Falls.

Southford Falls

During a short break in the rain today, I took the kids to Southford Falls. It is kind of a fun place to explore, but it started raining about 10 minutes after we got there. I just used my tripod, timed the shutter trigger and dragged the shutter. ISO=100, f8, 1sec

9 bandaids

Maggie got into the bandaids this afternoon. She 'needed' nine bandaids.

Aunt Kayte

Kayte is here visiting and we had quite a day. Janie, Kayte and I went to a spa and had the royal treatment. I had a massage and a mud wrap. It was nice and relaxing. Drew had the girls all day. What a guy.

Bathtub

I dropped the ball yesterday and didn't get a picture posted. Here is my penance. Pretty cute, eh?

Canoe

Drew took the girls for a ride in the canoe. The weather has been beautiful.

Cutie boy

This is a picture that I took yesterday, so I am cheating a little, but I have been wanting to take pictures of Mack when he is in a talkative mood. He was smiling and giggling for Grandma in this one.

Potato Derby

Today was the ward potato derby. Each family was given a potato to carve to specification. We added tires and it was ready to race. Ours was Darth Tater. We took 3rd place. That's one good lookin' tater...

Turtle

Matt found a small painted turtle in the pond this afternoon and the girls loved it. Maggie named it 'froggie'.

Ferns

Shot at Webb Mountain

Manhattan Temple

I went to the Manhattan temple today. It was quite the trip. If you look closely, you can see Moroni. Drag the shutter for the blurred taxi.