The Taxman.

Ughh...

I seriously seriously seriously DO NOT like the taxman. (We aren't allowed to use the word "hate" in our house...so that's my way around it).

AND some of you may be thinking - isn't her husband the taxman?? Well...technically no...although right now I'm thinking about maybe throwing him in the category also :) just kidding darling...I know you love me and you're only doing this for my own good (kinda like a personal trainer that throws 200lb. weights on you and tells you to lift - its for your own good...or puts you on a treadmill and sets it at a 9 - I can barely do a 5.5 - you get the picture...) anyway its not easy on the taxpayer who's computer has been dead for 5 months and she's not good at backing up her tax information on the few precious days it did work...

Tax time around here gets really tricky - especially when its MY tax information WE'RE working on...not good...not good at all...particularly trying on the marriage...

Luckily Matt is well-equipped with dealing with "haters" of taxes and soothes me while still managing to accomplish the horrendous task at hand - it can be so very taxing (get it? taxing?)

Ughh...ugh...ugh!

**And as a side note, I'd just like to remind all Arizona Photographers out there that EVERYTHING you do is subject to both city AND state sales tax....EVERYTHING (yes, that includes your session fees that you probably thought fell under the "service" umbrella - nope...TAXABLE.)

The saying around here:
The only things you can count on in life - DEATH & TAXES.

Have a GREAT day!

Finally - MY Family Photography Session

I have never had a real family photo session of my very own - never. It's kinda like the shoemaker's kids go shoeless thing.... My image above my fire place is 3 years old. I have 4 children now instead of the 3 shown in that image. It was time. We shot these images this month - the month of January...so it is okay to do family pictures other than the month of November.

The beautiful and wonderfully talented Amy Lebbon came up from Phoenix and made my dreams come true.

A few thoughts from the "other side of the camera".

1. I knew what I wanted my pictures to look like. I knew I wanted interaction and fun times with my husband and children...and I was not afraid to smile & laugh to get those images - even if it felt a little dorky doing it, or required some rear-end pinching on my part.
2. I knew exactly where the pictures would be hung and was about 95% sure on the layout of the gallery of images - this made it easy when we were messing around 'cause I knew how they were going to be displayed (don't worry, I'll show you the final wall when I'm finished), and I knew I wanted random images mixed in with some "set" shots.
3. I knew the colors of clothing months in advance :) (okay - I knew I wanted to wear a dress & heels and matt was going to wear his "swinger" suit - I like to dress up despite my tendency to lean towards anything made of velour or sweats.) BUT I didn't have the exact outfits laid out until the day before when I went and raided a friends closet (thank you friend :). My motto with clothing - the crazier the better - no matchy matchy please. I think the randomness photographs better - plus its stuff we actually wear.

4. I had scouted out the location and it proved to be as awesome as I knew it would be. Now I can already here my mother asking why I chose to shoot near an abandoned grafiti-ridden train car :) OR next to the NAPA auto parts store...all I can say is...I love it (don't worry mom - you can still tell me it looks like the middle of a dump - I won't be sad). I like it 'cause it was a little funky....a little different.

6. I took a LOT of deep breaths and only lost my temper a few times - basically whenever a child (one in particular) ran away OR another child would make ridiculous faces (the un-photoshoppable kind).

7. I love that these pictures reflect ALL my kids personalities - Laina, the poser, McLaren, the rascal, Indy, the nugget, & Ella, the teeny little caboose.

Thank you again Amy, YOU ROCK! (some PS was done by Amy and some by moi ;)

Senior Photography {Prescott Style}

(These are massive-sized and I'm too annoyed with my 4 MONTHS of waiting for Dell to ship my replacement computer! to go and resize :)

Back to the beautiful senior :) She's gorgeous and I loved all the colors she had - quite a natural! I think she surprised herself with how good she'd be during the session.

How to Guide: Child Labor

Step 1: Buy shovels. For each child.
Step 2: Make them think that snow/shoveling is cool.
Step 3: Go back to bed & let them work.

**Definitely remind them to wear underwear.

Ella - 7 months old

I wanted a bath picture :)

She's starting to sit...and smile & play...AND loves to eat in her chair at the table.

*sigh* she's getting so big.

Piano - Reverse Psychology

Laina came home the other day with her New Year's resolutions.

She wanted to:

1. Learn to play the piano

2. Learn to play tennis (??) No idea where that came from...I'm guessing it was a classroom suggestion...

3. Keep her room clean (Okay...who am I kidding...I added that one for her.)


I had planned on starting both her and Indy next year, but she kept bugging and bugging and so I finally cleaned off the piano - yes it was buried (a yamaha clavinova) and found Mary had little lamb and Twinkle Twinkle on the internet....printed 'em off....wrote the notes on the paper and on the keyboard and sent her on her way.

Now, as is the case with most "new" things - she wants to play all the time. (You're nodding your head 'cause you've been here in some way...) Asks before she goes to bed...and when she wakes up...she's at the piano playing. Hmmmm :) I decided (knowing how fast this will go downhill) to use my lovely reverse psychology parenting skillz and inform her that she couldn't play UNTIL her room was clean....or her homework was done....or the dishwasher was unloaded. I'm so gonna ride this as long as I can....

Biggest storm of the DECADE!!

Ha! okay...so maybe the decade is only 21 days old...but hey - its all about the headlines :)

(OR is this the end of the first decade not the beginning of the second?? hmmm...that caused quite the debate around here and had my husband researching it to see who was right - the end or the beginning?)

Either way...its a snow day. Which translates to all kids stuck inside OR going in and out leaving the door wide open and coming back with freezing, sopping, wet clothes & crying.

FUN TIMES all around!

(McLaren said something about beating Orks with a belt...so I'm guessing that it was Lord of the Rings play time - and Indy is our Aragon...nice posing eh?)

Mac and Me

I think the martian was named "Mac"...(as I'm typing this and laughing I'm also worried that I might give my child some sort of complex...hmmm...time will tell- it was either that or the chemo comparison...)

McLaren had been trying to cut his hair (he wanted to be bald like his dad) for the past 3 weeks. Matt would somehow salvage it and we'd go on for a couple of days. We went out Friday night and my niece was babysitting - and when we got home she said, "Mac cut his hair". He didn't just "cut his hair" - he scalped himself right down the middle (didn't help that his cousin Parker was sitting next to him with his newly shaven head that his father did on purpose - I have no idea why someone would purposely do that to a child but - I should've seen this one coming.)

We had no choice but to shave...to the scalp. As usual, this child in particular makes me laugh so hard that I have a hard time doling out the punishment - in fact, Matt and I were laughing so hard that most of the pictures I took came out blurry...'cause I couldn't hold the camera still.

When we were finished he wasn't smiling any more...he wanted his hair back. Every family member and friend we encounter gasps and then tries to recover when they see him...I just comment "he started the hair cut....and we had to finish it."

So here's our version of "Mac 'n Me".

This one is blurry...but I love it...I love the finger in the background pointing to him :)

**I should add that I didn't take a final image...he's completely shaven...no "Dad look alikes" - Matt and I couldn't help ourselves and paused mid-shave for a Dr. Evil and mini-me shot

Senior Photography Session {Yuma, AZ - Photographer}

The last time I saw her - she was about 9 years old...and I remember her being teeny, tiny. That was in Flagstaff - now she's finishing up her senior year in Yuma. Frankly it doesn't matter where she is...all I know is...she's gorgeous. AND - why is it that all gorgeous women play the harp?? Is it a prerequisite?