Thursday, July 30, 2009

The Pastor's Boy with a Rockin' Name

I only have two first-cousins on my Dad's side of the family and they are the son's of my Dad's younger sister. There is quite an age difference between us and they grew up over a thousand miles away from me. Thankfully, my Dad was an Interstate Commodities Transportation Engineer. That was his spin on the occupation of a truck driver. His career path allowed me to make frequent visits to my Aunt's house in Washington a few times each summer when I was a teenager. Those visits allowed my cousins and I a chance to know each other better. Today they are successful adults and we cherish every chance we get to spend time together laughing and loving.

Ryan, the older of the two brothers became a Lutheran Minister and received his initial pastoral assignment here in Phoenix a few years ago. He and his wife just had their first little niblet and he has become the talk of the family. Ryan told us a few months ago that he was going to be named Sebastian Axel. Sebastian Axel!!! It doesn't get any more 80's rock than that!! I mean Sebastian Bach from Skid Row and Axel Rose from Gun's and Roses, the were icons of the era. I was quickly informed that the two names are from Lutheran biblical history. Ah well, he is still a little rock star in our eyes.

Meet the family.

This is Sebastian. I think the socks are a bit distracting but if you check out the next image, you'll quickly realize that he really likes having his socks on.

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Sebastian still wasn't happy when we tried this shot. I wanted a peaceful shot of him resting his head on the bible. Ryan even opened the bible to a passage with special meaning regarding children. I thought it was still a beautiful shot with a new daddy trying to comfort his little boy.

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Three generations and the new little family.

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Ok, so the picture on the left has some real special meaning. The chair that Ryan is in was purchased by our great-grandparents when they were pregnant with their first child. Our grandmother was rocked in that chair, my father, Ryan's mother and the baby of the family, our Aunt Susan were rocked in that chair. I was even rocked in that chair. Susan has had the chair since our grandparents passed away and made arrangements for Ryan and Adi to use it for their children. Its so amazing to see this single piece of furniture have so much meaning to us family members.

The picture on the right says so much about my Uncle Leo. He has so much pride in his family and spending time with just one or many means the world to him. The look on his face in this picture is what you will see every time Leo is around his loved ones. He is a great man and hope to be the husband and father he is.

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The Multitasker

I recently did this shoot for a friend/colleague of mine. She is a fantastic graphic designer with an amazing talent for wrapping her head around the big picture of marketing. I have been in the graphic design business for 20 years and she has been in it for about 6 or so. I am quick to turn to her for advice. She is THAT good. The only advantage I have on this young woman is a vast knowledge of MAC keyboard shortcuts. LOL

Meet Melissa

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Friday, July 17, 2009

Our Baby Becomes a Teenager

The other day our youngest son, Kaeden turned 13. I would have never thought that I would be emotionally affected by this. But the thought of the innocent questions and silly little giggles of our children being gone forever is a sad realization. Its hard to accept the idea now but maybe in a few more years the idea of being a grandparent will start to sound exciting.

Kaeden decided to invite a couple friends over to the house for a little pool party. The weather was a scorcher on that Wednesday afternoon so the pool was one of the only options. After some swimming then cake and ice cream we took a little break and then took all the kids to the opening day of the new Harry Potter movie. They all had fun and Kaeden was very thankful for his fun day and so were Jessi and I.

Enjoy some pix of the kids. By the way, the Red Bull was for Jessi and I.

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Our next door neighbor and her step-brother.

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Whats a teenage pool party without chicken fights?!?!

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This is sad... I went looking for birthday candles only to discover that there were none. Jessi grabbed a decorative one quickly. Sorry little buddy.

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