Update on us...

Hey everyone. Sorry, I have once again managed to get lost in the chaos of wedding season!! We are so busy it has been UNREAL. I have about twenty things I need to post on here, Matt keeps reminding me and I keep ignoring him. (That's what wives are supposed to do, right?) But he finally cornered me tonight. I realized how much I miss sharing what is going on in our crazy life. So, here is a small update on us.

Kylan said his first word!! And KEEPS saying it, for that matter..... Sunday, which just happened to be Father's day, we were sitting in church and I was holding Ky on my lap. Well, he decided he didn't want me anymore. So he reached for Matt and said, clear as day, "Daddy!" Let me tell ya, Matt has been rubbing it in ever since. Monday when Matt left Kylan kept saying his name over and over again, like he was wondering where he was. And today Kylan was playing in the office and had pulled himself up so he was standing, hanging on to the baby gate in the doorway. He could see Matt in the kitchen and kept crying "Daddy, Daddy!!" until Matt came and picked him up. It didn't take him long! But then, who could resist that?!

Senior Pictures

Senior pictures are always a fun deviation from 'the norm'. Being a senior - who can forget it?! High School in and of itself is a time of self-expression and growth - a time of figuring out who you are. What an amazing thing to be able to capture: the end of one journey and the beginning of another.

Sherese was a gorgeous graduate from Foothill High. She has the bluest eyes I have ever seen - they are literally BABY BLUE. (I swear I only re-touched them in the black and white photo!) She was a little nervous at first. Who wouldn't be? I am SO glad we decided to do her pictures outside, she was infinitely more comfortable here than she would have been in studio. We laughed and goofed around the entire time, just trying to keep things as light (and her looking as natural) as possible. It's hard to be natural when you have a camera so close it's making you cross-eyed. :) but she was a great sport. She delt with all of my tyrrany with casual hysteria (she was so scared of the camera!!), and I did whatever I could to keep her smiling! Well, as you can see, it worked. We really had a blast with her, and she swears she had just as good of a time as we did.

Kristi and Steve

Kristi and Steve were one of the coolest couples of all time. They were crazy, to say the least. Just to give you a little background information on them to explain their insanity... Kristi was one of the character's at Disney World. That sums her personality up in just a few words. They wanted their engagement pictures done of them playing on a playground. Swings, slides, monkey bars... the works. The picture they chose for their announcement was actually of them in a tree! But this one was one of my favorites. Who ever thought monkey bars could be so romantic?





They decided they wanted to go somewhere on their honeymoon that is by no means a commonplace honeymoon destination. So, when they got their 'wedding budget' from their parents they decided to trade out their beautiful catered luncheon for sloppy-joes, chips and lemonade. They used the extra money and went to Greece instead! Instead of a reception they had a party, catered by Leatherby's ice cream.  They cut their cake with a butcher knife and Kristi had Steve hold her hair as she dove face first into the cake. I have pictures of them in full wedding regalia, climbing jungle gyms, going through the monkey bars upside down and head first, doing flips on the trampoline and climbing a tree. And to top it all off, when they left their ceremony, instead of opening the car door, Kristi ran and jumped through the open window... IN HER WEDDING DRESS!!!

For their first anniversary they decided to get an album of their insanity. It is definitely one of my favorite weddings to remember!  Happy Anniversary you two. If anyone deserves it, you do.

Here is the link to view their album:
http://www.sheerelegancephotography.com/NewsomeAlbum/

The Bell Family

Taking family pictures with little ones can have a tendancy to be a little bit crazy. This shoot in particular required a little more care and cosideration than most family shoots. The darling little girl here has Rett Syndrome. We wanted to make sure she was comfortable in her surroundings and that there wouldn't be too much around to over-stimulate her. So, we went somewhere no kid could ever feel unwelcome - my grandmother's house! My grandparents are currently serving a mission for our church, but the backyard is still completely shaded with huge old trees, and the swingset and trampoline are still in great working condition. What kid wouldn't love that! Plus the fact that they wouldn't have to share with any other kids as they would have on a playground. It worked brilliantly. The kids were happy, most of the time, and we ended up with several really great shots. I was honestly shocked they turned out so well.

We ended up taking over 1500 pictures, but our favorites are in a separate folder (There are around 80 of them) if you want to take a look!

www.Pictage.com/477161

 








 

Ballerina

Let me preface this with the fact that I have NEVER had such a hard time choosing which pictures to post. EVER. Click here to view the entire shoot: http://www.pictage.com/client/event.do?event=467024

This one is definitely worth a look!

Shauna was simply stunning, and an absolute blast to photograph! I was surprised that she was actually nervous at first. I guess dancing for hundreds of people on a regular basis is one thing, but dancing for two of your own personal paparazzi is quite another! Once she got started she never looked back. She was so comfortable with herself, and she was one of the most graceful things I have ever seen. She was so exited to do the desert pictures, something funky but still graceful. Personally, I think we nailed it.  

Click here to view the entire shoot: http://www.pictage.com/client/event.do?event=467024

Four Front Teeth

I think I may be one of those incredibly biased parents, but I really think I have a VERY cute kid. :) Kylan now has 4 front teeth! He is also getting ridiculously mobile, and I didn't realize how "un-baby-proofed" our house is! The other night he pulled himself up on his bouncer, from crawling to standing in just moments! He thought that was pretty cool and laughed and laughed once he knew, for sure, that we were watching. Until he fell on his bum, of course. :) So here are a few pics of my darling kid that I really post too many pictures of as it is. What can I say? I'm a mom! 

Murals

I couldn't post the pictures of the paintings I did without posting a "real" picture. This is my sister attempting to practice the piano with her 3 year old in tow. Definitely a favorite of mine.

So, here are a few pictures of our Utah trip. I photographed a graduation and painted for 5 days strait. That was about it. It was really a lot of fun, I LOVE being knowen as the "paint aunt"! How many kids do you know that even have one of those? Especially when their mom is as crazy as my sister, who totally supports (and actually has credit for beginning) my little addiction. :)  There is still a lot of detail work I want to do, but not bad for limited time and assistants ranging from 3 to 13. Every kid got to help a little in their room, which I think is pretty cool. Yep, even the 3 year old. I wouldn't have had it any other way. And yes, everything was free-handed. 

This is Pete, after "Pete's Dragon" (whose name was really Elliot by the way, if anyone was interested). He was a VERY big accident that took a lot longer than I anticipated, but is by far my FAVORITE out of all the murals we did that week. My nephew got a hold of a paint brush when we weren't looking and there was suddenly a huge green blob on the wall. Instead rushing to find the matching wall paint to see if we could paint over it, what does my sister do? Unlike any rational adult I have ever knowen, she said "Oh, you can just turn it into a dragon or something." How many parents see a gigantic green blob on the wall and very calmly, almost EXITEDLY tell someone to turn it into a random mythical creature to fit the theme of the room? She's a little crazy, but by far one of the coolest mom's of all time. Hence, Pete joined the family. 

This is the "castle room" where pete guards the front door. Eventually these darling nephews of mine will have a full mural in the archway we painted, but that will take several days more to finish. My other nephew came to play the day I finished the rock work and asked where we got the big sticker from. What a compliment! I took them to Wendy's for frosties for that one.

 

This is the teenager's room. Yes, even the teenager gets a mural on his wall. He is an AVID BYU fan. Can you tell? He and his cousin even helped base the faux work on this one, and helped with base coats in several of the other rooms. I have to say, it was definitely nice to have the help. 

This is the "Space Room" and the pictures just don't do it justice. The cieling is vaulted, and I am TERRIFIED of heights. This took many hours on a ladder with every huge circular thing we could find in the house to draw and paint the planets. There are almost 1000 glow in the dark stars in the cieling, and some of the planets glow, too. The night it was done we had a "camp out" for a few minutes so everyone could see the completed "galaxy". It was actually really cool. 

This is the "black hole" in the space room. I can't even begin to tell you how cool that looked at night!

Since Pete took up so much time I didn't get to do as much to this room as I wanted. The tree will eventually be covered in moss, big leaves and huge tropical flowers. The branches and vines will go all the way around the room right below the cieling. It turned out okay for now, but will require a lot of attention on our next visit. 

Missing In Action

I finally got a chance to look at my blog the other night and I can't believe it has been so long since I posted something! We have been running around like CRAZY. I guess it's good to know that some things never change. :) We spent a week in Salt Lake City where I photographed a Law School graduation and spent almost a week painting murals in the bedrooms of my niece and nephews, we spent several days in San Francisco photographing AND doing video for a wedding, and now we are in Denver working with an office here! We have only spent a few days at home in between each trip and I am starting to get really tired... With family shoots, cutting video demos and attempting to keep on top of the packing and unpacking it has been a little tough get everything done. But, I will try to post again while we are in Denver and I will try to catch you up on everything we've been doing in the last month once we get home!

Mother's Day (almost)

I know that I am about 3 weeks early on this, but Krystaly is in Utah with her family this week, so this is my chance!

Krystaly is the love of my life.  She is the best mother in the world.  I use to say that she was the most important thing in the world to me, but now she has to share that honor with someone else.

I love you with all my heart Krystaly.  Thank you for the passion you have to be the best mother that you can be every minute of every day!  Every smile you see on Kylan's face is one that you put there.

Happy soon to be Mother's Day!

I made a special video for you:

http://web.mac.com/epochvideoproduction/Site_2/Kylan.html

I Love You,

Matt

Just For Fun

 Just for fun I took an advanced "artistic" photoshop class from one of my favorite professors from back in the day. She is awesome and always has the coolest tips and tricks in the program. Since we switched to mac I thought it would be a good idea, since that is what she uses and a few things are different. Our latest assignment was an absolute blast! I am a huge renaissance fan and our assignment was a theme, so that is what I picked. I may have gotten a little carried away, but I was just having WAY too much fun... 

Graf Wedding

The Graf's were a ton of fun. Luckily we were able to work with the sunburn. The best part was they were both a little crazy so along with the normal pretty shots we were able to do some really funky ones that we wouldn't have been able to do otherwise! 

Recipes!!

I LOVE to cook. It is my "secret shame", if you will. Matt taught me how to cook when we were dating, and it is something we did all the time together. But Matt is so much better at it than I am. Sometimes I will be making something and he will come in and "fix" it and it turns out amazing, just not what I wanted it to taste like. So needless to say, he does most of the cooking around here, weather I like it or not! This recipie, however, is all my own! He won't touch French Toast or Crepes and it is nice to be able to cook something and know it needs no introduction. 

For those who wanted it, here is my crepe recipe! It's pathetically easy, you will just laugh. 

1 egg, 1 cup flour, 1/2 c sugar, 1 overflowing cup of milk (a cup and a little, really - just to get the right consistancy) - this serves 2

Using a hand mixer, mix until well blended, a minute or two. Pre-heat a large non-stick frying pan on meduim heat. Pour 1/3 cup of batter into the center of the pan, pick the pan up by the handle and tilt it to spread out the batter. Cook until golden and then flip! It should only take a minute to cook! If it is too thick enjoy your thick crepe and add a little milk to your batter for the rest of them. If it sticks just spray the pan with pam before you drop on the batter.

Easy!! 

French Toast is just as easy. 

2 eggs, 1 c milk, 1 tbs cinnamon, 1 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp vanilla, and the secret ingredient, 1 tsp almond extract. I just eyeball it all. I mix it all in a pie pan and just lay the bread in, flip it over, and throw it on a griddle! 

Enjoy!

A few thoughts...

This weekend was General Conference, which has always been a pretty big deal in my family. Normally we would all gather from the four corners of the earth to hang out with the family (our VERY huge family), watch Pride and Prejudice, and let the kids run wild in the orchard. It was a weekend of my Great-Grandmother Ashworth's Famous Home-Made Bread. She would spend the few days leading up to our arrival for the big weekend baking bread like a mad woman, and by the time we left we had usually devoured every single loaf. Sunday morning my Grandpa Ashworth would always make his amazing French Toast. There were lots of nights of bread and milk at one in the morning (only worth eating if it is fresh, home made bread) and a great "girl movie", and afternoons hiking in the mountains behind my Grandma's house or shooting targets and clay pigeons. I love it, and I have to say I'm a pretty good shot. My Dad always said that if I practiced I would probably be better than him. Considering he is Grizzly Adams that is saying something!

Well, in the last few years my Great-Grandmother has passed away. Boy do I miss her Famous Bread. It is a recipe that was perfected over 4 generations by the time it got to her. She made it so much that she never used a recipe, she just made it. My mom used to make it all the time too before she died. It was a huge deal in our family, it was a lot of fun. I hope I can get a hold of the recipe. Just thinking about it brings back such great memories. And, my Grandparents are currently serving a mission for our church in Chicago. I miss my Grandpa's french toast - I do have the recipe for it, but it was always so great to wake up Sunday morning to the smell of it filling the entire house. I miss my grandmother's laugh at the insane horde of kids and the mischief they got into in the small orchard. Last time they got a hold of a shovel and managed to dig a several-foot-deep trench around the tree swing in just a few hours. 

This conference I had to work on Saturday night. Getting home at one in the morning and then trying to pack up a sleeping child does not constitute good driving conditions for the trek up to a little town outside St. George, Utah. So instead my parents came to my house. I am becoming as "family famous" for my crepes as my grandfather is for his french toast. My little brother always asks me to make them for him, and how could anyone resist a compliment like that!! So, we did a marathon day of cooking beginning with crepes and ending with impromptu peanut butter blondies and including everything in between. It was a lot of fun, and we still made it a family day. It was just so different. There were so many things I missed.  Mainly the craziness I think. I love having a ton of people around, my mom was the second of seven kids and they all have big families - and all the cousins are great for a laugh. So just having my immediate family around was a little different. Good, but different. Maybe I can get a hold of that bread recipe. I have a feeling that tradition could fill a gap or two. 

The Sunburn

Okay, okay... By Popular Demand, here is a before and after of the infamous SUNBURN! Obviously the point of being a good photographer is to take a great picture and not have to photoshop it to make the image good. In my opinion the Adobe suite should just be used as the icing on the cake. Well, there is only so much I can do when the groom looks like a LOBSTER! Jason was a great sport and when I gave him grief about not wearing sunscreen the day before. He told me it was because they were both outside all day the day before the wedding and if there was a chance she was going to have a sunburn then "dang-it"he was going to have one too! Cute sentiment really, but the bride didn't end up with a sunburn! 

So, here is an example of what I had to work with and what the end product was! HUGE difference, let me tell ya. The Adobe suite is full of great tools, yes, but I would rather take a great picture than spend a million hours on the computer fixing it. 99% of things I can totally work with - but unfortunately, in this case no positioning, setting, or light change was going to make a difference! 

Before
After

Monae

Monae was absolutely a blast to photograph. She is such a sweet baby, we really had a lot of fun with her. It was a gorgeous day so we had our studio set up outside in the shade of our courtyard. We originally had all of our lightboxes set up and everything, but after the first flash Monae gave me a look like "What the heck are you doing lady?!" So, we decided to just use our reflectors and shoot ambient light. It worked out great, especially working with someone so small. We were able to "rapid fire" our cameras to get a lot of great facial expressions that we wouldn't have been able to get otherwise. The only down side... we took over 800 pictures in 20 minutes! If you want to see her full shoot just go to www.collags.net, username: Monae Livingston Password: 11377