I can hardly believe my boy is two years old.  I hate to say that it goes fast, because to me each day seems slow but two years have passed since I delivered our boy and that does seem incredible. This birthday was a bit of a whirlwind. We decided to have a little pot-luck party over at our house and it was really hard to be a hostess. Harper seemed just a tad fussier and more needy during the party than usual but Owen seemed to have a great time.  He kept saying all day "I want ma cake" or "I want to eat ma cake."  Finally the time came when we sang the birthday song and he just kept lunging for the cake -- mouth first.  Special thanks to Katrina of Sedona Bride who, stepped in like the great friend she is and shot some photos on my camera for me. It's so great to have a friend whom you can just hand the camera to and say, "can you shoot this?" (and KNOW they can handle it). Sometimes my life as a photojournalist is hard because you want to photograph everything but then you never get to participate!  Yesterday I was "wearing" Harper in the Moby Wrap and it proved too hard to play photojournalist at the same time. Enjoy the photos of the kids. ~cameron~
 

You might remember Kate, my sister, and her now husband Norm from an engagement session we did in Oct. 2008.  They got tied the knot on Oct. 10, 2009 and Katrina Wallace and Andrew Mejia of Sedona Bride  photographed their wedding.  Kate wanted me to be a guest at her event and it turns out I was 9 months pregnant so it was best I enjoyed the time with my family.  Jamelle was already booked too, so Kate asked "who should I hire for the photography?" Ah the question every bride must answer.  Next thing out of her mouth, "I'm on a budget."  Does this sound familiar?  Well, I encouraged Kate to consider her budget, trim the fat, and make room for what she really wanted ie: prioritize.  She knew she wanted great photography and would be really disappointed if she didn't have that sooo she didn't compromise on that. She knew she could get a location for free, and she knew she was an expert shopper and could find a gown for less (she got her dress at Neimen's in Phoenix for under $800).  After that, Kate decided to have Thornager's do a BBQ to you style buffet, they constructed their own dance floor, etc. etc.  Kate hired Kim Duncan of kD eventDesigns to style and 'figure the rest out.'  Kim, is one of my favorite wedding vendors because she always goes above and beyond to make it all perfect for her clients -- she helped Kate with her budget and was able to make Kate's chic county fair theme come to life as you will see in the photos.  Thanks Katrina for letting me feature your lovely work on my blog.  If you don't already know, Katrina (sedona bride) remains one of my oldest and closest friends in the industry.  We have grown our businesses together and I was so tickled that she was able to shoot Kate's event.  She and Andrew knocked it out of the ballpark!! She is one of the TOP photographers in Arizona for sure and one of the finest in the country as well.

Indulge me with another blog post about my babies while I'm on maternity leave.  I do need Jamelle's expertise for newborn shoots!  I'm so bad at forcing newborns to do anything, I just feel sorry for them all naked and being posed.  Owen was talking about her belly button (the cord clamp hadn't fallen off yet) and showing us his belly button too.  I attempted a "Christmas" baby shot which failed miserably and looks better in black and white, even though the initial *concept* was fabulous, execution was not there. I love the shot of Matt reading both kids the TRUCKS TRUCKS TRUCKS book. Harper's eyes are still blue, keep your fingers crossed (I have blue eyes so it would be fun if one of my children resembled me in some way...) ~Cameron~

So this week has been busy for me.  Sunday night I went to bed pregnant, Monday morning I woke up with contractions and by 1:30PM we had a new baby girl.  It was a great home birth delivery-- intense but quick.  It has taken me all week to adjust to this baby being a "girl" as I was sure I was having a boy. She is sweet and seems to be about two billion times easier than Owen was.  Owen was FUSSY!  Harper doesn't cry as much-- although, I'm not sure any baby could cry as much as little Owen did.  Man, he had a set of lungs from day one.  If you are interested, I keep a baby blog where I post all my liberal musings about the world of babies and I will be writing Harper's birth story sometime this weekend and posting it to that blog. I must say I am ashamed of myself that these are the only photos I've been able to shoot all week, but I'll do better next week.  Included is a photo of me taken Nov. 3 by John Running, who I am lucky to count as one of my close friends.  He's a local portrait photographer and artist--I love this photo.  He has a retrospective exhibit right now at the Flagstaff Photography Center entitled "Forty Years Running" -- you should definitely go and check out his amazing work.  Also I added some photos of Owen's last day as an only child, the photos were taken on Sunday Nov. 8th.  He is 20.5 months old. P.S. I'm officially on maternity leave through the end of the year and part of January.  I'll be doing odds and ends from home.  Please don't hesitate to contact the studio about anything, Jamelle is still working full time. :)  ~Cameron~

Happy Halloween!  Owen was the cutest little Yoda you ever did see!  It's was Matt's dream come true to have a little yoda costume being a Star Wars fanatic and all. Anne Raney, of Anne's Alternations, and our bride from a few posts ago, made his costume--call us for her number!  Next year, I'm sure Owen will choose what he wants to be, so it was fun to dress him up this year.  When he saw himself in the mirror, he exclaimed, "Yoda!" and got really excited, he event kissed the mirror. We taught him what does Yoda say, "Do or do not" and it when you ask him, he says, "Do not."  Enjoy a photo of Naomi, Jamelle's daughter AKA supergirl (Jamelle sewed that one) and Jamelle and Jeff (80's PROM).  We did a "trunk or treat" up at their church (parked cars in a lot, open up the trunks, decorate and then the kids can run around and get candy). It was perfect for us, because going door to door wasn't really going to work with Owen, who turned 20 months today!  Also there are some recent photos of Owen at home with his trucks and the day it snowed, it was really the first time he *experienced* snow. It's getting hard for me to crouch down and shoot kids right now since I'm due with baby #2 in less than 10 days.  No photos of me, sorry! I always forget.  ~Cameron~