And the new toy is....

a duck!! Maddoxx was so excited for the new toy from grandpa she even put the tennis ball aside for awhile!! The tennis ball is a big favorite at grandma and grandpa's house because she doesn't get to have them at home. But now we might have some competition. What to play with, the duck or the tennis ball? Such decisions for a small pup!

Maddoxx's new toy

We've kind of been neglecting Maddoxx on the blog, so it was time to do a double post. Her grandpa has been telling us that she has the biggest gift under the Christmas tree. Not only that, she get's an early present once we make it back....she doesn't even have to wait until the 25th! This video is how she reacts whenever we talk about her new toy.

Have you ever...

woke up from a nap and things just didn't seem right? Maddoxx had one of those 8 hour naps the other day and this is what happened when she woke up. Somehow she managed to get a leg through the neck hole in her sweater! Don't you wish you could nap this hard more often?!?! I do!! That kind of nap (OK, let's be honest....any kind of nap) just doesn't happen like it used to when I was in college. Bummer!! Nothing beats a nice long nap in the middle of the afternoon on a rain day.

Congratulations Z and D!!

We love baby O and enjoyed spending time with you last night! Let's do it again very soon!

The "A" family...

This family session just happened to be on the first ice storm of the season! Luckily they lived in town and we were able to get there despite the weather! We walked in the door and baby C was all smiles. The cat even came out to say hi, we knew we were in for a great session!
Baby C's nursery was absolutely adorable! But the part that amazed me the most was his beautiful cradle that his uncle made in a high school woods class! Baby C's uncle, if you see this....way to go, you have an amazing talent!! It is beautiful!
"A" family, you were great! I love these images, the love you have for each other and baby C is awesome and I love how it comes through in these images!
"A" family, enjoy your sneak peak!

Thanks Dave and Jen!

Who has cool cousins, raise their hands!! I have both of mine raised and waving!! Cousin Dave and Jen were kind enough to share their court side tickets with us so we could be at the ISU vs. UNI game tonight!

Being UNI alums and living in Cyclone country, it's a tough game to watch! When we first came to Ames, wearing cardinal gold and red for the first time was TOUGH, it felt so strange! And tonight red felt "normal" and the purple and gold looked strange....it was one weird feeling!

It was great to see TC (the cat) again though! One notable difference was that he had new shoes! Come on, what girl doesn't notice new shoes....even if it is on a mascot?!?!

Thanks again D and J! We had a great time! You are awesomely generous and we are so grateful!

Latest attempt at a self portrait...

We realized that we really haven't all been together during the year to get a family shot of us...so what better time to do it than during the first snow of the year?!?! Brrrr!!!! It was chilly and it got colder carrying the tripod around! We didn't take very many pictures....the whole 10 second timer issue and the weather really didn't allow for many pictures. But we did get some that were Christmas card worthy...amen!!



And this is what happens when there isn't an operator behind the camera to catch clowns who decide it's funny to wave at the camera. What part of COLD and SNOW do brothers not understand about behaving for outside pictures?!?!

Wii had lots of fun!

This year we went to my brother's for turkey day! This was the first time we have had thanksgiving dinner with him in too many years! Working in retail and black friday do not allow for traveling so mom and dad brought the entire meal 4 hours to his place and we joined in the festivities too! Of course Maddoxx got to go to uncle Matt's and she thought she was in heaven, she had an entirely new place to explore and did a really got job of cleaning all the floors....a few times over.

While Matt was at work, we put the Wii to work....that thing is awesome and an extreme workout! I'm not sure who thought it would be a good idea to play boxing....but we played. Eric and mom played round one. Dad and I played round two...and I got a big KO....that's right, a knockout!! However, that one match put me on my butt the rest of the night and let me tell you, my arms were feeling it the next day....how sad is that?!?! Bowling and tennis were much easier....I think I better stick to that next time and leave the boxing for the professionals.



Maddoxx did not think the Wii was too cool. Check out this picture, it cracks me up! She has her nobbly ball at grandma's feet and is barking at her to throw it in the middle of her boxing match! She's a little demanding when her grandma's attention gets turned away from her. Oh my!

Happy Turkey Day!

Here's wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!
We were back home for a few days a couple weeks ago and when we were driving around we saw this turkey roaming the streets!
We wish everyone safe travels!

The white stuff has made its appearance...

that's right, snow has fallen. Even though the weather forecasters have been warning me that the white stuff was going to come today, I think I was in a bit a denial as I found myself surprised when I looked outside to see the snow falling! Most is melting as it hits the ground, but there were a few flakes that decided to hang out on the pumpkin for a bit. I am TOTALLY not ready for this change in weather. We have had so much fun outside this fall, I am sad to see that go. I guess this means we'll have to get our sleds ready to rock and roll so we can have just as much fun this winter!

The end of the season...

Tonight we attended Woodward-Granger's football banquet where we played the highlight video we made for them this season. I lost count of the number of awards and letters given out but it was exciting to see so many underclassmen and well as upperclassmen receive them. It was a true team effort this season from the freshman to the seniors! Way to go guys, thank you for letting us capture your season!

Sneak Peak for the "K" Family!

We traveled 3 hours to capture this family! We had a high energy and busy session with them. We started in their Christmas outfits and quickly changed to clothes that would let us jump, throw leaves, roll on the ground and climb the trees. Whoa, now that's what a I call a great family photo session! D, I know you are excited to see the rest of the images, the gallery will be up shortly!

The "F" family

I have dubbed little E the busiest little girl in the world. Wow!! She took us on a tour around the lake and didn't stop in one place for more than a few seconds. We were running to keep up with her!
Check out her curls and the sun shining through....wow, does it get much cuter than that?!?!?
Thank you F family for a fun tour around the lake!

The "J" family...

We had a fun session a few weeks ago with the "J" family! Mom and Dad said that baby Z just was not her usual smily self, but she sure gave me plenty of smiles! I would love to be with her when she's her smily self, I can't imagine how much fun she would be! Baby Z was so sweet and was such a trooper wearing her adorable "tommy" dress on a cool fall afternoon. And check out her melt your heart eyes! Enjoy!

A glorious sight...

Yes, that's right, this photo is a glorious sight!!! Why you ask? These are the lost safety deposit box keys! They have been "missing" since June! We did not follow the rules and kept both keys in the same envelope, so when we lost one we lost both keys which meant we needed to get the lock drilled. Needless to say we have been putting it off. This is the one time procrastination has paid off for us.
You wil never believe where Eric found them.....in our safe! There they were all by themselves in the safe as we have transferred everything else to the safety deposit box. Where it has all been held hostage since June. :)
I am puzzled by the find as the last place I recall seeing the keys was in my car. Apparently I brought them in at some point and put them right where they should be. Imagine that, I put something back in the correct place!
I searched every creavice of my car, even went back to the parking lot where I last remember the keys in the car....I am telling you I searched EVERYWHERE.....of course except for the logical place!
In about a weeks time in June, I lost the keys, my glasses and the FM transmitter to the iPod. I am happy to say that everything but the FM transmitter has been located! Tell me where the most logical place for that is because I'm sure I haven't checked there yet....

Drumline competition

This weekend found us in Warrensburg, MO with 18 of Eric's students for a drumline competition. Yes, boys and drums....
Are you asking what we were thinking?!?!? We left Friday and returned Saturday evening at 11:30 with a 3rd place trophy! Not bad for their first interstate competition! When you are traveling with boys who dig drumming, everything turns into some type of noisemaker....and why did we think it was a good idea to go to a Chinese restaurant.....with CHOPSTICKS?!?!?! Hello, that's an endless supply of drumsticks....drumming on the table, on glasses on eachother....oh my!
OK, back to being serious, they really were good and it was a good trip. They had a great performance and that's all that counts! Boys will be boys and that's just what they were. It was just a step outside of our usual 2 person trips. :)

Happy Halloween!

Here's wishing everyone a spooktacular day!

The "L" family...

After being rained out the dreary week before we were finally able to get together with the "L" family. Little mr. R is all boy and full of energy! He is as full of energy as baby B is laid back. We thought it would be really fun to throw leaves, what I didn't realize was that lots of sand was underneath the leaves....needless to say baby B got a sand bath (I'm talking about sand in the eyes, mouth and nose) and he didn't have a thing to say about it! Baby B takes "laid back" to a whole new level!

The "J" family...

The "J" family is a past wedding videography client for us. It was so fun to meet up with them again and hang out for awhile capturing their growing family. In fact the newest addition "A" was welcomed home just a day before the shoot! She was so shy, but she was a trooper. I have no doubt that her sister "S" will show her the ropes and get her to be a social butterfly soon.
Thank you "J" family for going on the long walk with us! We had lots of fun!

The "H" family...

The "H" family brought us to a beautiful park with endless amounts of fun for a 2 year old and 2 photographers! Little Miss "L" found great friends in Shrek and Buzz Lightyear too! She is the happiest little girl and is full of life.....when I say full, I mean FULL! We had a blast jumping, running and clapping! We didn't quite make it to somersaults and cartwheels, but I don't think they were far off. :) Maybe next time....

The "K" family...

Wow! What a riot these boys are! And they are full of information! We learned about all sorts of things including poison ivy and how tough preschool can be. We brought a trunk to the shoot, unfortunately there wasn't a treasure inside for them as they were hoping for! But we certainly made up for the disappointment of finding treasures with plenty of pez! Shrek and Buzz Lightyear were a big hit!

Absent

Yes, yes, I have been quite absent lately. We have been having so much fun doing family portrait sessions, I haven't had a chance to blog. But I'm going to change that....tonight! :) From this point on, this blog will be a combination of personal and business goodies! We are very close to making our website go live and we plan to have the website and blog work together. Fun! We will share the site with you shortly. Now, on to the sneak peaks of many sessions over the last couple of weeks....

Happy Birthday Dad!

We love you!

Fall...

What a beautiful time of year! I love the fall! We went out tonight looking for some great new places to take photographs. Maddoxx loved it because she thought it was all about her. :) Our friends went to Vegas a couple weeks ago and brought Maddoxx back some new threads. Her new shirt says, "Doggie Diva". Wow, she has everyone wrapped around her finger!

Just Because...

I am so excited that I got my lens back from repair! I couldn't help but take pictures of the outside from inside our house. I really liked this capture. Doesn't it look like the car is FLYING past our house?

Butterflies

There's really not much new to report on around here. Since I haven't posted in awhile, I thought I'd share some of the butterflies I captured at Reiman Gardens today.

Can I get an AMEN?

So it's no secret that Maddoxx is a diva. It's also not a secret that we are probably to blame for many of of her behaviors. She gets everything she wants and we're finding that having a diva dog takes a lot of work and quite frankly can get irritating when she won't stop whining until she gets what she wants. She is relentless. But we still love her. She has brought so many smiles and laughs to our life we don't know what we'd do without her!

My parents neighbors at the lake realized just how much she was a diva when she made herself get sick when we went on vacation and my parents drove the 6 hour tour just to get her and bring her back home with them. When the neighbors saw the gigantic "diamond" bling, they knew that the diva dog must have it.

Washing paws...

We've started washing Maddoxx's paws every night in an effort to get her to stop chewing her feet! I walked in yesterday and found Eric's hands in the water with her. When I asked her what in the world he was doing, he promtly said, "If Maddoxx has to wash her paws, I will too." :) She handles it pretty well in that she doesn't try to jump out while her paws are soaking, but her face says it all....she's not real fond of the experience!
So we're not sure if she has allergies, yeast or a nervous habit forming. We're soaking her feet in oatmeal and aloe and we've changed her food. Anybody have any other ideas what we can do for her?!?! Her red paws really stand out against her white fur!

The big win!

Here are the final seconds and the celebration!

So tired....

I think this video of tired Maddoxx is hilarious! She just didn't know what to do with herself since she didn't get any sleep in the truck. She tries to close her eyes halfway through the video until her grandma moves and keeps her awake. She definitely has a rough life!

Iowa Superbowl

Saturday was the Iowa Superbowl! That's right Iowa and Iowa State faced off and we had a great time at the tailgate! It was an adventure to say the least! We had planned to wake up early on Saturday to get ourselves to the party.....until we made a rash decision at 10:30 on Friday night. That's right we packed the truck and camped in line in the truck Friday night in an effort to get a great spot for tailgating. For those of you not around here, the temperature was in the 30's Friday night!!! Brrrrrr!!! And we slept in the truck! My parents, Maddoxx (she hated the adventure we took her on) and us aren't quite sure why we made the decision we did, but once we were there, there was no turning back!

Yes, that's frost! We were outside as the frost formed. As sunrise got closer it seemed to continue to colder and colder!



Thank goodness for the generator and coffee pot we brought along! Even Maddoxx had to be layered. Poor thing she was so cold! This was one of the few times she was on the ground, we had to hold her most of time. If she could talk she would use one word to describe it....miserable. :)






Some of us lasted longer than others!







We has a GREAT time! Of course, the margarita machine was once again the life of the party! We can't wait for Iowa to be here again in two years! Thanks for coming down mom and dad, we had a blast! GO CLONES!!!