Still in Connecticut!!!

Well now that the big day is over, I can talk about it. Today is Jessie's 30th birthday (ugh it is hard to admit I have a daughter that age =) Last Friday Brian had planned a great surprise party for Jessie, which is the main reason I came to visit the East Coast. Well wouldn't you know they had 10 inches of snow on Friday, so Brian had to push the party to Saturday night...

Now a little about the party, Brian is so creative, it just amazes me sometimes. We both worked all afternoon while Jessie was out with a friend to prepare for her arrival. Below is the invitation he sent out, designed by Jessie's sister Jacie from http://www.pinkrabbitdesign.com/. If you ever had a need for custom invitations, note cards, stationary, etc. she does great work.

As you enter the dining room Brian had a station set up where you picked up your wine tasting kit, decorated your wine glass with initials beads, etc.

The living room was the White Wine room, with a selection cheese, olives and crackers, oh and of course, some nice wines for sampling.

The dining room held the red wines and more delectable snacks...

Jessie's studio held shrimp with cocktail sauce and a fabulous salad...

and of course the desert table!

I am so glad that I was able to come and be a part of the celebration... the only thing better would have been to have Doug here with me. I am so thankful though, that he is there to take of mom for me, so I don't have to worry while I am far away. And with the way things are in Portland right now, I don't know if I am going to make it home for Christmas!

A view from Connecticut

Wednesday morning I was able to head out of town to come back and see Jessie, Brian and Ava... Doug was gracious enough to stay home with mom so I could come out and see the kids before Christmas. I had been trying to get here since Thanksgiving weekend and was just able to make it this week. Now if I can just get home on Monday with all of the snow around the country, a few prayers and fingers crossed couldn't hurt!!

The images below show what happened to us here today. They were forecasting 8 to 12 inches, falling at 1 to 2 inches per hour. Not sure how much we finally ended up with. I did learn an interesting fact today while listening to the news, Connecticut has 632 snow plows!!! Can you believe it... On Jessie's quite little street the snow plow came through about dinner time. Brian was out shoveling the snow off the driveway three times today to keep it clear. Jessie went out to help too.

Beautiful new baby girl...

I had the absolute wonderful pleasure of photographing a perfect little angel coming into the world on Tuesday! We were anxiously awaiting her arrival and she finally decided to make her appearance . Unfortunately she decided to be difficult and not enter through the normal way and had to be coaxed out of her cozy warm home via surgery. And that being the case, I wasn't allowed in the operating room. So after being there for a few hours during the labor I handed my camera to dad and gave him a few pointers on how to use it so he could get some shots that I would have to miss.

So the first picture below is one that he took just after his daughter was born and they were showing her to mommy for the first time. Then I was able to catch up with them in the nursery and back in the room to catch the rest of these.

Mom update...

Well we have made it through the surgery and now mom is staying with us during her recuperation... Doug and I have been busy little beavers processing all of the December sessions we have shot. And also putting together all of the orders placed for greeting cards and gifts. We are so thankful for you continued support, especially during this time when so many businesses are showing such a significant downturn in sales.

I have realized through this time that we all have our natural strengths, and being a nurse is not really one of mine. Not that I can't do it, or mind, but it just doesn't come naturally to me!! Now Doug on the other hand is fabulous at it. And all of you who know Doug can probably see that in him. But we are just thankful that we can be there for mom and help take care of her.

The crazy part is that we have been too busy to even take the Christmas decorations out of the attic! So we don't have a tree up or even a single decor item sitting around. I do actually have a few presents purchased though. But I am not going to worry about these things now, we are just thinking about all of the others things we have to be thankful for.

We wish you and all of your family members a joyous Christmas this year!

Fall fun...

Okay, I know, I know, I know... that I have been neglecting my blog posts! But the last few weeks have been crazy. We all have things in life that sometimes seem to make us take a step back and re-prioritize what is going on. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and has to go into surgery later this week. We have been making dr. visits and all sorts of fun things the last couple of weeks. While still trying to keep all of our client appt's and filling all orders for prints and cards. Thank you to all of the kind words and prayers!

Now back to the fun stuff... we had the best session with a new family a few weeks ago, while it was still warm enough to go outside. We played a lot and had such a good time with them all. Hope you enjoy this little peek at our time together!