Dinner for 6...

this was trip 1 of 3 to KC while i was back home.... doesn't everyone need a bit of chocolate, merlot & Zona Rosa every now and then? .......hmmmmmm......yummy....... 

Stalled out...

these are my cousin's kids who sure where troopers with the crazy wind.
i forgot to mention in the last post that when her foreign exchange student was here 15 years ago that they drove through a tornado, they were coming home from a track meet in Sabetha when the car stalled out (where my parent's house is now located, which also just so happens to be the location of these photo's). Apparently, the tornado was swirling around just enough above them that they didn't have a clue.....how many can put that on their resume?

良く生き、しばしば笑い、大いに愛せ。

that's supposed to be the Japanese translation for

"Live Well,

Laugh Often,

Love Much",

but then again you never know..... hmmmm.... hopefully it's clean at least.......it's been 15 years now since my cousin had her foreign exchange student from Japan. I was so excited to hear that she was coming back to visit for a few weeks and that i was still going to be in town- so of course i was thrilled to be able to photograph her with her husband and two kids.... so cute. 

PLAY BALL!

so there's this internal clock i have in my mind that says i'm always 25, and though i'm not much older than that i had a bit of a reality check when i was back in kansas. I had the opportunity of photographing my high school basketball coach's kids....i remember he and his wife had two adorable kids that us girls would have a ball with at the games....now there are 4 and they are all grown up....craziness... but cute as ever....

got buzzed!

so it was getting to be jaden's bedtime so i told him to go ahead and brush his teeth and pick out a few books for me to read to him while i ran up and jumped in the shower. I heard him knock on the door and ask "mom, you in here?" 

"yes, jj- i'll be right out" ,

"i got the books ready", 

"ok, i'll be right down", 

well, i thought he left and that was the end of it until a few minutes later i hear this clanking noise, so i peeked out... "jj, are you still in here?" well, he turns around and i see that he obviously had just cut his hair (parts down to the skin)- which at the time was fairly long for him- since he detests getting it cut- 

"oh, i see you cut your hair"

"yeah"

"do you like it?"

"yeah"

"that's good, why don't you go down and show grandma, she might want to trim it up a bit"

"ok"

well- it was all you could do not to laugh when you saw him- which grandma was obviously not prepared for... though she did try with all her might- he started to get REALLY embarrassed about it... and then mad....but i think it's all good now- boys...can there really not ever be a dull moment? :)

the Other Mark Miller...

so we went to my cousin's show the other weekend and decided it would be fun to show up with signs....maybe i forgot to mention it was at a coffee shop- ....minor detail.... we've deemed ourselves his biggest fans- wonder if we'll be invited back....hmmmmmmmm........

Twisters and Sewers

this shoot was a riot to say it mildly.  we had been having crazy wind all afternoon and with the baseball and work schedules this was the only time we could get together .  so we were having fun photographing when all of a sudden we hear jaden say something about "there's poop"- well- i've learned through disgusting experience that that phrase is a RED flag at our house. so we turned around and wouldn't you know little emily had fallen in...... WHAT?..... but sure enough there it was -  a sewer- hidden like a slimy sneaky snake in the tall grass and down she went- her cute pink dress was all black and dripping in disgustingness. She handled it well though- as did her mom. To emily it was just mud- we didn't really see the need to clarify it any differently. After washing up and a change of clothes she was back out and as sweet as ever.... maybe a bit more smelly- but i didn't notice :)
and as if that wasn't enough excitement for the day we learned we were in a tornado watch.... oh kansas...it's good to be back home!