I met Paxton’s Mommy while working at SDUSD – teaching 5th grade at Kennedy Elementary.  That job was no easy task.  Most of our students came from severly disadvantaged backgrounds and grew up accustomed to gun fire and gang violence.  Classroom management was a challenge, to say the least.  And the dynamics among the students – well let’s just say we worked REALLY hard on “community” and “trust”.  Paxton’s mommy, Merrilee, was subbing there one day.  Both of our classrooms gave us similar challenges and both had spent most of the morning in tears.  We had an instant connection and, after one quick interaction in the copy room, we’ve been great friends ever since.

***On a side note I have to tell you that it was Brad and Merrilee who gave me my first camera book for my 26th birthday.  I’ve since practically worn it out!  I am certain I would not have a business if it wasn’t for these two!  When they asked if I would take pictures of their little one, well, it just feels like it’s all came full circle!  I’m almost sure that when they gave me that book they had no idea it would launch me into a path that would someday bring me to San Diego to photograph their newborn.  Aren’t life’s journey’s great?***

Now they have Paxton.  It was great to meet them and see their family.  In some ways, it feels like Paxton has been around since the beginning.  They are such natural parents, and he is such a dear.

Except that Paxton doesn’t sleep at night.  Funny, because he sure slept for our photo shoot!!!

Brad and Merrilee have this fantastic home – Paxton, you are SO lucky to get to live in that house !

I LOVE Paxton’s room.  It’s wonderfully modern, personal, warm, and cozy.  With a touch of Disney….what could be better?

Unfortunately Brad couldn’t be there for the photo session (sorry Brad!) But I had so much fun photographing Merrilee and her new one.  There’s nothing like those first few weeks when you are getting to know you baby – and your baby is getting to know you.  I think these two are hitting it off pretty well.  What do you think?

You guys – Paxton is AMAZING.  Your family is delightful.  Thank you for letting me photograph you and Paxton.  And thanks for that photography book you gave me a few years back.  I hope these pictures in some way can mean to you what that gift meant to me.

-Sara

I wish I had time to tell you all what am AMAZING woman Rianna is, about her strong, loving heart – about the way she TRIUMPHS in adversity.  I wish I had time to tell you that she is one of the most genuine, gracious people that I know!!  Or that her house is perfectly organized even though she has a newborn…or that friendship comes so easy to her you all should want to be her friend…I wish there was enough time and blog space to document all of that, there just isn’t.  You’ll have to glean all of Rianna’s loveliness from looking at the images of her beautiful daughter:

Rory wasn’t in the best picture taking mood, but I really like these images.  And I love the ones where we got  a little bit more creative: 

Rory, I can’t wait for your formal pictures in just a few weeks!  Take care and don’t grow too much!!!

Sara

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL!

You’re looking better and better every year, man.

We love you!

Chris, Sara, Lucy & Luke

All right, so I’m a little behind in blogging my sessions – sorry about that!  There has been one in particular that has been on my mind.  It was a session with my friend Bridget.    I love Bridget.  She came to Lucy’s birthday party wearing at least 10 different, bold, colorful headbands.  This girl has spirit, and a strong identity.  And her strong spirit is balanced with a super sensitive heart.

You can just see how much fun we had at our session.  And what’s even more fun is that her mom is all about making the photo session a special treat.  And her dad is all about working hard to get everyone and everything in the right place.   Bridget rode her new tricycle and ran up and down the dirt path, jumped off the bench, and scooted up and down stairs.

Isn’t she just so sweet?  

Happy fourth birthday, Bridget.  Thanks for letting me take your pictures!  Enjoy your slideshow!Sara

They brought over a super-cool game made by a company called (excuse me – this is PG-13) Cheapass Games.   I’m not making this up – I swear!   This company makes these games that are totally unsophisticaed, packaged cheaply, don’t come with any pieces (except the essentials), and they’re super fun!  We played “Kill Dr. Lucky” and used Clue pieces to play.  After all, it is a murder game.  Kill Dr. Lucky is pretty simple, but honestly….I’m a bit too tired to explain it here.  Suffice it to say that it’s well worth the less than $10 the game costs – pick it up!

All these shots below were taken with our brand spankin’ new Nikon D300 and Nikkor 14-24 2.8 and are pretty much out of camera except for a bit of sharpening in PS.  Let’s just say we love these new toys, er…I mean, equipment.

Our “Mrs. White” piece of our Clue game leans forward.  Like 45 degrees forward – like she has some crazy sense of balance and defies gravity.  We think it’s hilarious!

Miss Scarlet, in all her glory!

Hope everyone had a good weekend…off to the next week!  Lots more pics coming soon – some family sessions, more pics from Lucy’s party…stay tuned!

- Chris

Children’s Wonderland has been around for a long time – I went there with my parents when I was a kid!  They’ve recently renovated the whole place and it looks amazing.  They have some familiar characters and structures, which all the kids had a great time exploring. 

 The dinosaur dig was a big hit…check out the flying sand in this picture!    You can see the sand in his hair!  I love it. Time for cake!  Yes, Clark is turning 5, but there’s an extra candle that’s “one to grow on.”  I love that tradition.

It was a beautiful day – so warm, even, that you can see how much energy was spent running around before cake time.  Those aren’t tears – that’s sweat on Clark’s face. Check out the young chimps (Clark’s Brother and a friend)!  ”Chimping” is a photographer’s term that refers to checking the display on the back of a digital camera after every shot – and we all do it!  I can chimp with the best of them…when I saw this, I couldn’t resist. You can tell that Michael caught something awesome by the look on his face!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CLARK !  Thanks for inviting us to your special day.- Chris 

LOTS OF CANDY!

Oh did we have fun! We got together with our friends – Mike and Patti – (they are the ones who just had the twins) so our little ones could experience the fun of Halloween together. It was great. Not only did the girls have a blast, we did as well. Watching them trick-or-treat was more fun than actually doing it and being with a family who is so into kids and loves them SO much was great therapy to our sleep-deprived souls .

Check out these super fun pictures!

Check out this costume – it was the best we saw (and this kid was a total ham). The kids weren’t so sure about the “scary stuff” but they hung in there.

And then, after all the fun, it was sleepy time. And boy were we tired!

We had so much fun!!! Thanks Sweeney family! What a great night of friends, costumes, and candy!!

What’s more fun than carving pumpkins? Painting them! Last night at Bridget and Annie’s house, our pumpkin patch pumpkins became the canvas for some incredible artwork. Check out these little artist at work:

And even though Luke isn’t quite old enough to join in the fun, I think he really enjoyed eating fruity cheerios in his exersaucer!

Watch out world – pumpkin art is the latest and greatest!

We wish you all a happy, safe Halloween!

The Goetz Family

It was when we started receiving e-mails from friends in San Diego that we began to feel connected to their experience. We want to share them with you – inpart to help you understand what it is like to live through this unbelievable fire and also because we’ve heard from so many that every e-mail and coorespondance, no matter how general, means SO MUCH. So here are their stories:

Hello Friends and Family,

I pray that this email finds each of you in good health and spirits. I wanted to say thank you for the phone calls, text messages and emails. I also wanted to send out a quick update on the wild fires that are sweeping thru San Diego County.

On Sunday 10/21 the fires started in Malibu (Los Angeles County) and Julian (San Diego County). The fire in Julian was named Witch Creek, because that were it started. The Santa Ana winds (wind blows from the East and brings the hot desert air over the mountains) coupled with the drought conditions (It never rains in Southern California – Tony, Tone, Toni) quickly spreaded the fires into 8 uncontrollable wild fires all over the county.

By the time we woke up on Monday morning the fires were so enormous that a mandatory evacuation for our neighborhood (Rancho Penasquitos), and surrounding neighborhoods (Rancho Bernardo and Poway to name a couple), had been put in place. We looked outside to see a bright orange sky, ashes falling like snow, and our neighbors throwing clothes, food and their kids in their cars and getting the hell out of dodge.

We quickly followed suit and evacuated to one of Erica’s sorority sister’s house in the City of Chula Vista (a smaller city in SD County, near the Mexican Border). We stayed there until 1:30 am on Tuesday 10/23, when we were told to evacuate because of the Harris fire that had grown and was threatening the eastern portion of Chula Vista. Once again we packed up and headed out.

We (including the sorority sister and her husband) then stayed with my partner at the law office and his family, until yesterday afternoon. It turned out that they had already had another family from the Poway area staying with them. At 2pm on Tuesday 10/23 the mandatory evacuation was lifted, but a voluntary evacuation and standby was put in place. We were able to return to our home late yesterday afternoon. We stayed the night, but kept our bags and cars packed. If the wind changes we will once again be in the direct line of the fire.

The fires are now threatening the communication system on Mount Miguel and the Mayor, County Supervisor, Fire Chief, Police Chief, etc. has requested that San Diegans limit the use of cell phones, stay home and stay off the roads. There are 1200 National Gaurdspersons assisting with the fire and the protection of the communities that have been destroyed by the fires.

The Mexican Government is has sent fire personnel and medical teams to assist with the fires and the evacuees. Our electrical power grid is at full capacity and rolling blackouts started on Monday. The Mexican Government has redirected power to our system to help avoid a total blackout. The city has requested that citizens not use AC, dish washers, washing machines, dryers, etc.

The pictures and images that you see on television are nothing compared to the real life drama that is gripping this region. People are losing everything but GOD is still with us and we will get thru. Please continue to keep me and my family (Erica, Ashley and Jacob), as well as those families that are still in shelters (there but for the Grace of God go I), in your prayers.

The sky is full of soot and gray in color. The air quality is extremely poor and smells like a fire place. I will send out another email in a couple of days. Take Care and God Bless,

Mark

PS – Please also pray for the men and women who are fighting the fires and keeping the rest of us safe.

PSS – Please pray for the Redskins to beat the Patriots on Sunday

and:

Hello office crew! Stephanie wrote to ask how things were going, and I thought I’d write to tell you all what’s happening…

It’s unbelievably strange. Everything is gone. We grew up- our whole lives in that house that my dad built. We were there as children to watch it’s walls go up, to lay the stone pathways and plant the orchards that ran everywhere along its many acres. It’s the second time we’ve lost everything we own. All of the memories…the libraries of children’s books!!! And it’s been the most horribly trying last three years for our family. Regardless of these truths- I just feel so incredibly grateful. The central hub of our family has moved to my big brother’s little apartment in the city. But amazingly- it feels so similar in spirit to the huge, beautiful home on a mountain-top. I have such a blessed life with these incredible people. There is nowhere I’ve encountered in what I’ve seen of the world- that this level of love exists. THIS is what it’s about. This is what matters.
As everyone in our community calls with news of homes lost, we get twenty times more calls of people begging to help, to do or give anything they can.
We go tomorrow to sift through the ashes. I know that flattened-without the structure of the house- there will be a similarity to one of my first memories as a child-
The memory of “The Land”- the site where our old house burned down, the place where Dad was burned in the first fire and almost died- his body is still blanketed with those scars. I remember watching my mom cry- looking out over that property, as the walls of her new house were raised. I know it will look the same now, twenty-five years later. I know there will be tears again, but I know that we’ll still all be together, safe, loving, still the indomitable family- strong as ever.

I would do anything to protect them. But I know, all they need is for me to be here.
So thank you for allowing me to. It is so important, and so, so appreciated.

In the mean-time, I’m working here on my laptop, and including in the present…RECRUITING plans for the future!
So thank you again- from me and the whole fam!
See you very very soon-
Marie

We love you all in San Diego! We are praying for you!

Many of you know that Chris and I spent 10 years of our life (and all of our early time as a couple) together in San Diego. This has been a crazy week living up in the Bay Area and just watching what’s going on in our old hometown on TV. We have so many loved ones – friends who are family to us – who are there, and our hearts break. The emotion around all of this is so vivid for us even though we are 500 miles away. Though we are happy to be in Northern California, Chris and I both said to each other today, “we wish we were down there close to our friends right now.”

Our friends the Ligtenbergs had a very close call. You can read about it on Rebecca’s blog: http://rebeccasmiscellanies.blogspot.com/. She’s been posting updates pretty consistently and it’s surreal to read.

Chris’s dear friend and colleague Marie’s family lost their home today. Today I was complaining about how messy our home is…how shallow a thought in light of this. We are praying for you, Marie.

And so many of our friends here have family or friends there. Nearly everyone in Chris’ office has a friend or family member in San Diego. It’s so close to home. We were there during the 2003 Cedar fire and remember waking up one morning to a yellow/orange sky, ash falling, and just a sense of mourning. Hundreds of homes burned and everyone was on edge. And to think that this fire is far far worse (or I should say, these fires) is just unthinkable.

We are thinking and praying for you, our San Diego Family! Oh how sad we feel just watching the news. We pray that you get a break in the days to come and that the firefighters get control – we ask for a miracle. Bless the volunteers who are serving and give strength to those who are experiencing loss or grief today.

Please join us in saying a prayer for San Diego today.

Sara