Fa la la la la - Our Holiday Adventures

Meh, okay, it's January 10th and to most of us the holidays are a distant memory...and yet, here I am, just now blogging about it!

This Christmas Reid was old enough to at least kind of understand what was going on. This year Santa came for the first time, Reid was able to rip into his own presents, and got excited over all of his new toys. I can honestly say that my heart about burst with happiness watching my son enjoy the holiday season.

On December 28th we left for Idaho to visit Will's parents and siblings. REID'S FIRST PLANE RIDE! He did wonderfully throughout the entire trip and even slept through the awful turbulence on the flight home. He also got to see snow for the first time and really couldn't have cared less. Our final "firsts" of the trip consisted of Reid's first haircut and my first time skiing...ever! We had a wonderful time and enjoyed the beauty of Northern Idaho.

Here are photos from the past few weeks - enjoy!

Q: What is your favorite photo from your wedding?

There are two photos from my wedding day that are my hands-down, no if-ands-or-buts-about-it, to-die-for favorite. I'm not sure if our photographer purposefully placed the focus on the champagne glasses or if it just fell like that. She was probably a bit worried about the harsh back-lighting of the window behind us, and she was shooting on film. She caught a moment between a new husband and wife that summarizes in two frames what we were feeling for a whole day. I look a tad dorky, we look a bit awkward, but we look in love. She didn't pose us and we had no idea she was taking the photo.

Realizing exactly why I love these photos has single handedly crafted me into the wedding photographer that I am today.

Thank you to Allison Stahl for capturing this moment for us back on September 24th, 2005.

Laura & Peter's Wedding | Sacramento | December 12th, 2009

Laura and Peter got married on a cold, windy Saturday night at The Sterling Hotel in Downtown Sacramento. It was absolutely the warmest wedding I have ever had the pleasure of attending. Laura is a knock-your-socks off beautiful school teacher with 3 grown children (okay, her youngest is 15, but close enough to adult, right?) Peter is the loving father to one daughter of his own. Together Laura and Peter joined their families on this chilling Winter evening. Laura's son, Andy, escorted his mom down the aisle with maturity on his face like that of a man three times his age. Laura's oldest daughter, Ashlee, sang a song during the ceremony that simply took your breath away.

I have never felt more at home with a group of strangers (besides the family members that I met at our portrait session in October). Although I was just their photographer I was treated as if I were an honored guest. That's just the way these people are.

Laura's vision for her wedding came to life with the help of several industry pro's. Her wedding coordinator at the Sterling Hotel, Cindy Tonks, was so on top of her game that I often believed that she was in two places at once. Justin Prahar of Sounds to Go was one of the best DJ's I have ever been in the company of. He didn't miss a beat despite the fact that at no time could he actually see the ceremony or reception (he had his table set up in the bar, two rooms away from the action). I was seriously impressed. The cake was flawless. The flowers were straight out of a luxury wedding magazine, and the food looked out of this world.

I learned a few things on Saturday, December 12th:

• Teachers know how to party. Seriously. "Sweet Caroline" has been forever changed to a party song in my mind :)
• Elevators aren't really practical when you're in a hurry. Much better to take the stairs and deal with the pain the next day. I think I went up and down the stairs 80 times that night.
• Planning to grab In-N-Out on my way home from the wedding sounded like a good idea in theory. Much less appealing after watching 75 plates of succulent, juicy prime rib be served. (Laura offered but I doubted I would have time to actually sit down and enjoy it....boooo!) It's okay, I'm making my husband take me out for prime rib this week ;)
• I now must ponder whether or not it's appropriate for a wedding photographer to dance while taking photos?