Happy Valentine's Day from the Wild Animal Park!

Please excuse the hokey blog layout. I'm trying to customize it, and I got as far as my header, but html befuddles me sometimes. Should be cleared up soon!

This Valentine's Day we celebrated as a family at the Wild Animal Park. It was the first time we've been! It's a 30 minute drive, but sooooo worth it. I like it better than the zoo (and I didn't think that was possible!). Emma loved, loved it. I can't tell what was more fun - the petting kraal or the gorillas (primates are my all-time fave, and these guys were out and play-fighting.). I tried to get good pics of them, but ended up with lots of ape butts! :)





On our drive home, we stopped by some of the orange groves that had suffered in the 2007 fires. It's really eerie to see forests full of blackened wood. These are my pics, but I doctored them up in photoshop to emphasize the eerie feeling.

Matisse had a "blue phase"

....I think Erika is having a "black-and-white phase". I am really digging this Photoshop thing!

The Lollipop Gangsta's

We had a little Valentine's day photo shoot-playdate on Friday, where Emma got to hang out with Isabelle and Shae. Shae and Emma share the same birthday! I wanted to get some cute pics of the three of them and their marshmallow lollipops. Holy cow. As if trying to get a picture of three toddlers together isn't hard enough, throw some gooey sugar in the mix and it's NUTSO!

Anyway, here's some pics of the gangster-ettes enjoying their loot:

It's that time again!

time for more of mommy's silly photo shoots! You might remember this one from last year - my how time flies.

my birthday is June 13th :)

If anyone is looking for ideas for me way in advance - this pan makes the ENTIRE batch of brownies the edge. Brilliant!! The edges are by far the best. :)

sometimes, i just want to eat her

Maternity Shoot!

I am working on a photo blog, but for the meantime this is the only place I can post. I drove up to L.A. last Friday to take pictures of Monique's 38-week belly! She looks amazing, what a model to have for my first maternity shoot. She and Carter had a blast putting up with all my 'posing'. We finished up at the beach at sunset. Not a bad life this kid's coming into :)

Enjoy!

If this doesn't sum up a 16-month old, I don't know what does

Ask and Ye Shall Receive!

soooo sorry for the delay in blogging lately. As usual, it's just way too busy around here. I still have a few things to post from Christmas!

To tide you over, here are a few videos of Emma from the last two months. Enjoy!


daddy love from Eeks on Vimeo.


Untitled from Eeks on Vimeo.


ding! ding! from Eeks on Vimeo.

Celebrating Babies!

I had the honor this weekend, of attending my friend Monique's baby shower. Roger, Emma and I drove up to L.A. so that we could make a fun day out of it. It was a GORGEOUS, warm, sunny day and we enjoyed getting out of SD (which is rare for us, sadly).

This was also my first official photo shoot! Don't get me wrong, I didn't do this for any money, because I wanted to practice what it would be like to actually document a whole event. Luckily, I think I did ok. I was honored to be a guest, and even more honored to capture it for Monique's baby girl coming in about a month!

Monique and I went to high school together (in Ecuador!) We reconnected through Facebook, and before we met for lunch in November, I hadn't seen her in almost 15 years! Wow! Gotta love the internet.

Without further ado, here are my shots (complete with editing, thanks to my current photo class!) :)

Love is....

What can I say? Clearly they love each other. :)

Construction Zone

Nothing says 'I love you kid' like putting together an entire wooden play kitchen from scratch. By yourself. With a manual screwdriver. Oh yes! And did I tell you that the set came with 188 screws?! (insert collective groan here)

Actually, it wasn't that bad. Everything worked out perfectly, and I secretly enjoy the challenge (that, and I'm impatient). It's a good thing Emma appreciates all my hard work. She loves it!! Right now, her favorite thing to do is hide in the cubbies. But she'll be whipping up spinach quiche in no time! :)