Happy Christmas!

Wrapping is almost done.

The sugar high continues.

Post Office was visited.

We spread some Christmas cheer.

Safe travels to all of you and a very MERRY road ahead.

Reynolds Family - Family Photo Session at Lake Tahoe

It's always a mix of complete excitement and a bit of nerves when friends ask you to capture their family photos for them. You want them to come out amazing, because they are not only clients, but people you know and love. Not that I don't want all of my clients to have great images from our session, but the pressure is just a little bit bigger when you might actually see the people again afterwards.

When my friend Amy contacted me about doing some snowy family photos I was super excited. Amy and her husband Z are fellow Truckee kids and we were roomies in college. There are some very good memories of dancing around the kitchen while making dinner, late nights and great live music.

It has been over ten years since I have seen these two and the first time meeting their sweet girl. What a fun way to reunite. Thank you to Amy and Z for braving the icy temps, we couldn't have asked for a prettier day out there on Lake Tahoe.

walk with me

Lunch time, I need a break from my desk chair and computer screen. I am busy, but tell myself I will be more productive after I get some fresh air and sunshine into my skin. It's true, I always feel so much better after I have spent a measly 10 or 15 minutes outside. Winter in the high desert is cold, but beautiful. All at once white and sparkling, blindingly blue and bright. It can be covered in snow or dry as a bone, but one thing is almost certain, it gets really damn cold.I still insist on wearing skirts, I am like that.

I drive just behind my office, up a big hill that I run on when the ground isn't covered in mud or snow. The view of the entire valley comes into view, even with the inversion layer that settles into the valley during the winter months, I can see for miles. Downtown, the casinos poke their necks up in the distance and Peavine Mountain tall and regal like a painting. I can see west, all the new houses that cover what used to be ranches and a place where the cattle, wild horses and coyotes could roam. I watch the tiny toy cars stop and go obediently to the red and green lights along the McCarran loop.  Southwest, there she is, Mount Rose. Standing tall and covered in snow- scars run down her face where people, that are too tiny to see from here, ski and snowboard happily, because this year, the snow is really pretty good.

 

I walk down a path and look at how the snow has turned into crystals rather than the fluffy flakes they started out as. The sage and the rabbit brush poke their noses from the frost and sit, quietly and grey for the winter. If I step on a branch, the smell of snow and sagebrush takes me back to being 9 or 10 years old- flying behind a quad on a sled- hookie bobbing around the Granite Ranch. We would laughing our heads off in terror and joy wrapped up into one. The smell of cow patties and the state flower would fill our cold noses and settle in as memory that was forgotten, until this moment, this now.

I'm not really ready to get back in the car, but I do. I take in one more look and a very deep breath, hoist myself into the truck and turn back down the hill.

the week before christmas

Things are growing despite the darkness.

I have found time to go for two solo runs, drink tea and read a book in bed.

There were multiple trips to the bathroom where I had to wait outside the stall.

There was inventory of my decorations.

snuggles on the couch after work

and before work

anarchy at the mall

and lots of excitement for the long weekend and the coming of Christmas!

 

 

Sometimes

Often, I am stopped dead in my tracks by how beautiful the world,
the light
and the moments can be.

 I wonder, am I the only one who sees this? 

I can't be.

Please tell me, I'm not the only one.

cold and hot

From this on Monday, our first real snow storm of the season, to this...

The bulbs pushing through, the crocus opened their pretty yellow heads and it is nearly 65 degrees out today.

We enjoyed sunning ourselves a little bit too this weekend.

Top to Bottom

Wet, cold weather and a new hat. They were made for each other.

Lunch time run to Trader Joe's was a not only a nice break from my work day, but also something I had to do (and secretly like doing, too!)

play dough

It's the kind of weekend where there isn't much going on and the weather makes you want to sit inside, watch TV, play words with friends and drink hot tea all day long. Problem is, we have watched Cars about a million times and there isn't much else on the tube *until 3 or so when the football game starts*, there is only one iPod touch and I am over fighting with O about who gets to play it next and hot tea and kids just don't work very well.
So what's a mom to do?
I remembered a few months ago that I had pinned a recipe for play dough over on pintrest.
Supposedly, this is the best homemade dough recipe there is. Why not give it a whirl?

I didn't read the instructions all the way through and hadn't realized that you needed to actually cook the concoction after mixing up all the ingredients I started to get a bit nervous. I had a vat of goo that didn't seem to be thickening. One more quick trip back to the original post and I realized that you had to put the slop into a pan and heat it up until it thickens.

 

Good thing I have been working out because there was a heck of a lot of stirring involved. I was really worried the stuff was going to burn to the bottom of the pot. It didn't, but don't take your eyes or your spoon away for a minute.I also had it in my head that the boy would be able to play with it right away, but the finished product was almost to hot for me to handle and transfer into a ball and then into the bag.

O settled on three colors, red, green, and blue. I put about two cups of the mixture in each of the color batches. Each one filled a sandwich zippy bag perfectly. I think after nap time it should be at room temperature and ready for play.

Winter Walk

Walking in the woods, by myself on a cold Sunday morning.

  It cleared my head and I could just be.



I love that photography has given me the gift of time.
I have an excuse to wander aimlessly around an area, exploring like a kid
and truly see the world around me.

baking prep...

We are headed into that time of year (or rather, we are there already) when there is a happy cake almost every weekend in celebration of someones birthday in our family.

My favorite cake to mix up for the occasion? Smitten Kitchen's, Chocolate Stout Cake. It so yummy, moist and just the right sweet.

What's your go to birthday cake?

fort-head, static

More scenes from this weekend...


static-y fort hair

The fort

king and queen of the couch

BOO!

PS can I get a little feed back on the wya I have been processing photos lately?

48:365, looking in and out

He begged to go outside last night after school. So I bundled him up and he ran around and kicked the snow and screamed his head off in the backyard while Clover chased him around.

He came to the back slider where Fifi and I were watching the fun and I got this goofy face.

After the kids were in bed I crept outside and set up the tripod to get a shot of our street. It was literally glowing outside with the cloud cover and the snow the city's lights had no way to escape.

47:365. winter returns

It started snowing last night after some amazing winds all day yesterday. We probably only got about 3 inches total here on the valley floor. But it is nice to have winter back.
The only bad part, this weather may have us canceling our plans for the long weekend. Camping in the rain just doesn't sound like fun, nor does driving over a snowy pass.
I have a few ideas to make it fun though here at home...

We are snuggled in and warm inside. O is clomping around downstairs, "racing cars". Which translates into lining up all his match box cars (or anything with wheels really) either in the kitchen or on the couch. And Daddy-O is watching Rockford Files. I don't get why he loves that show, but he does. Must be the cheesy 70'sness of it all.

Here is a scene from tonight after dinner... I love watching Daddy-O play with the girl. She fell asleep right when she got home for an hour and then was all off schedule tonight for going down. She has me wondering if she isn't getting teeth or on the verge of a big milestone (sitting up maybe?).

Hope you are warm and cozy tonight.

pick up game

down town today.
it was cold and clear, but the sun felt good on my face.

white

The sky last night looked like it was heavy with snow. This morning when I woke up at 6:30 it was still grey but not doing anything. But by the time O was dressed at 7:30, and we were heading down stairs to make dip-dip (French) toast, the flakes were falling.

By 8 there was about two inches of very wet snow on the ground. O had let himself out into the backyard and was covered in fluff. Good thing I had gotten his boots and hat on him before he snuck out the sliding glass door. Fifi had a dusting on her just from the trip from the car into daycare today. Good thing for the Snuggle Me on the carseat- that little thing is a lifesaver!

Daddy-O drove me and Miss Kate (our roomie) to work today in the Land Cruiser. Such a nice boy, that Daddy-O.  It's still falling at a steady pace.

Boy is beautiful out there today.