Merry Christmas!

Another year, another self portrait!  It's hard to believe another year has come and gone.  They seem to go faster as I get older!  2012 has been a full year for our family, full of much happiness and great challenge.  We're so grateful for the love and support of our family and friends, near and far.  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

December Festivating

December is a big month in this house, with a birthday, our anniversary and of course Christmas.  It can be a bit much, but really it's so wonderful to have so much to celebrate!


Dallin's family party at home on his actual birthday involved a cake homemade with love by yours truly from scratch.  So it wasn't beautiful and I learned a whole lot about making cakes, but I will say one thing: it was one of the best tasting cakes I've ever eaten!  (And I can't resist but noting how I loath my dining room lighting.  No amount of white balance adjustment is any match for this rubbish lighting!)


Hopefully you can tell what I attempted to create, an iPod touch, which was the prelude to the much hoped for, much wished for gift of the year, possibly the decade.  If I had 10p for every mention of this device in our house the last year, I'd be a cagillionaire!


The many faces of awe and excitement when he finally held the precious device in his own hands!


Day two of teenage birthday celebrations included dinner and a movie with friends.  Dallin has made some wonderful friends this year at school.  They are the nicest kids, and I couldn't be happier with his friendship with these boys.  They all had a really fun night talking shop (anything and everything Apple product), eating pizza and going to see the Hobbit.


Today was the third annual firm family Christmas party.  It's a lovely, but strange thing, as spouses are never even invited to the formal Christmas parties here.  Ever.  How wrong it is that my husband dons a penguin suit just once a year and I can't even be there to see it!  Anyway, I digress.  The relatively new party put on for the children each year is a lovely gesture.  I took the kids into town for a day of fun before meeting Scott at the office for the party.


At Waterloo tube station


First we head to spend some time browsing this mammoth Apple Store on Regents Street.  This was on Dallin's Christmas break must-do list.


He was all smiles, which let me get a few great shots of the new grill on Dallin's teeth.  Yep, Dallin has braces!  They went on yesterday!  They should have gone on over a year ago, but we had to wait for the last two baby teeth he was sporting to finally drop.  He isn't so sure about my timing for his new mouth gear (5 days before Christmas), but I'm already pretty glad that I chose this pre-Christmas time slot so we all have the break to ease into it.  So far he's handling it great!


Apple Store Regents Street


Carnaby Street





Remarkable street entertainment at Covent Garden








Trevon dropping in his donation to the performers.


I can't get over how grown up my boy is looking these days.





Covent Garden





Teen on the train


Funny observations of Dallin en route home. He was either fully engaged with his new device, or totally checking out his new smile in the window reflection.

15 Years

Today marks 15 years married to this man . . .



It's cliche to say, but it also couldn't be more true: I am the luckiest girl alive.  I feel this every single day.  I knew when I married him 15 years ago that I was making the best decision of my life, but I had no idea just how good it would be.  He's made all my dreams come true.  Building our lives together, seeing the world together has been amazing.  But more than this he makes my dreams come true every single day in small, but not insignificant ways.  I'm convinced that he wakes up every single day thinking "how can I make her day great?"  He must, there is no other way I could explain how deeply loved and supported I feel every day.  15 years ago I couldn't have imagined I'd be more in love with him 15 years later, but it's true.  I am.  Happy Anniversary to my favourite person in the world!

Teenager

It's official, we are the parents of a teenager!  Dallin is 13!  I can't believe it!  How are we even old enough to be parents of teenagers!  And now begins a new phase of parenthood, one that will occupy the next 14 years of our lives!

I love this kid teen to pieces!  I have never met anyone who challenges me the way he does, but I couldn't be happier to be his mother.  He is growing into such a wonderful young man.  Becoming a teenager feels like such a milestone, probably because it's a time in my own life that I can still vividly recall.   So to mark the occasion I wanted to post a progression of photos from his life up until this point, but Dallin was born in the pre-digital era, or at least pre-digital era in this household!  And I haven't taken the time to digitise our prints taken pre-2005 (which are in a storage facility somewhere in California).  So here's Dallin from age 5.  Happy 13th birthday!


2005


2006


2007


2008


2009


2010


2011


2012

Baby It's Cold Outside!

It may not be December 21 yet, but it is definitely winter! It's a chilly -4˚ today. My front and back gardens are frozen! Even though I'm not a fan of the cold, I have to admit the layer of white ice crystals is pretty beautiful.


Frozen drop about 3mm in diameter





Just after taking this photo I exhaled right onto this iced spiderweb.  It instantly melted into water and tore apart falling to the ground.  The weight of the ice was being supported by the structure of the ice crystals, but couldn't sustain the pull when the ice liquified.





Frozen water droplets


3mm drop

Winter at Hampton Court

It never gets old shooting in places like this.  Honestly a photo shoot at King Henry VIII's palace?  And shooting this bunch just made it even better.  Great winter sun, an easy-going, and just generally awesome family.  What more could a photographer ask for?