Don’t you realize you are sabatoging all my hard work at the gym?  Don’t get me wrong…I love you…probably too much.  But, next time I see you at Trader Joes, I’m just walking by.

Sincerely,

Kristin

I love new things!  This album is a 5×5 and features proofing borders around the pictures.  It’s great for a mix of portrait and landscapes because you don’t have to turn the book…they’re all facing in the same direction.

I love these albums for kids because they are super durable…the adhesive gets stronger with time!  And the pages are thick, like board book pages.

And who can resist a POP of orange!?

Here’s a close up of one of the pages…I’ll share more from this photo session later!

-Kristin

I love learning new things…so, when Shannon told me she was renting lighting equipment and would show me the ropes, I was all over it.  I am a natural light photographer, so I don’t normally use a light set up…or even a flash for that matter.  It was fun to be out of my element…thanks Shannon!

My kids would be my subjects and honestly they weren’t as ‘all over it’ as I was.  But, Jillian truly enjoyed being glamorous in front of the fan and I did get a little bit of goofy out of the boys.

Things got even better when Clover made her way into the frame. 🙂

And here’s a much cooler Jillian after being ‘styled’!

It’s always fun to see Shannon, especially when we have a great excuse to play around and shoot together!

-Kristin

I can’t believe that we left our house in Castro Valley 6 months ago.  Over the summer we lived with Brent’s parents while we looked for a home.  We finally found a home we loved in a location we loved.  It was bank-owned, so the whole process took forever.  As soon as we got the keys Danny and his crew started knocking stuff down.  We opened up the kitchen, living room, dining room and a bedroom to have a great room.  It works well for us, because we have people over a lot…plus our own rowdy crew.

Here’s one of the before pictures…

And here’s another picture taken from a similar angle.  A few tidbits about this picture:  the sliding glass doors were bought in Encinitas when I went there for a photo session.  We heard about a door outlet…supplied by people with poor measuring skills.  I love how much light it lets in!  My coffee table was purchased from an actress off Scrubs (woo-hoo for meeting anonymous celebrities on Craigslist!).  I sanded it down and stained it to match.  And the couches are a favorite purchase from Costco of all places.

You can see a better close up of the black and white canvases in this picture…

You can see my office area…way back in the corner.

These ceiling tiles used to hang above my bed in our other house.  I think I like them better here:

Thanks for letting me share!  Some days this summer it felt like this day would never come, but it’s so worth the wait.  We love our new space.

-Kristin

A while back, I took some photos of our worship band at church.  Jeff does an amazing job.  If you are local and don’t have a church to attend…come to ours!

I totally miss our friends and our church back up in the Bay Area, but I feel SO blessed to be part of something really amazing that’s happening here.  The people are extremely warm and welcoming…we’re making friends and making this place home.

I love how Brent gets down to what really matters in life.  There is so much going on in the world right now, it’s easy to get swept away.  I’m trying to remember to put first things first….especially this month.

Here’s a shot of Brent I took that same Sunday as he was watching the band practice.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend-

Kristin

Lola and Mr. Fairbanks,

You are adorable…you just about need your own photo session.

-Kristin

This baby is a flirt.  The kind of flirt that’s flattering…that makes you feel like you’re the prettiest girl in the room.  And he’s been a flirt since birth.  I know because I was there when he was several weeks old, giving me that little sparkle…even when he could barely hold his head up!

Here’s an itty bitty Hudson…

And here’s big-boy Hudson, who now has ‘moves’ like grabbing his toes, rolling over and even more flirting.

He’s a little looker I tell ya, especially in a hoodie.

And I need to give a big thank you to Hudson’s entourage…that bounced, tickled, entertained and even moved furniture to make this shoot happen.

This cool graphic couch was envisioned for the photo shoot and even though we didn’t end up using it a ton, I’m so excited that Hudson’s aunt will be incorporating the couch into her upcoming photo session.  Woo-hoo!

Well, that’s all for now.  I hope this happy little flirt made you smile this Friday afternoon!

-Kristin

As promised, I’ve been brainstorming Christmas decorations that aren’t too cluttery.  I decided to hang ornaments from my chandelier.  They catch the light coming in the glass doors…gorgeous!  Plus, they don’t take up any table/shelf space.

My bargain-shopping self has to tell you that the chandelier was found over the summer on Craigslist for $30 and the ornaments were 60% off today ($1 each) at my local craft store.  I love a good deal!

And to my Castro Valley friends (and my mom!)…this serves as a sneak peek to my new house.  I am fervently cleaning today so I can take some pictures to show how it turned out.  My poor friends think that I’m homeless, because it’s been months…literally months since I promised to show pictures of where I moved to.

-Kristin

…didn’t you?  It’s only my third day of promising to blog every day and I’m already slacking.  But, I have a good reason.  I spent the day out at Fashion Island shopping with my friends.  Not only do I promise to blog every day, but I also promise to look cute every day with all the new clothes I got.  Laura gave me much needed advice of what to put with what.  That’s where I get stuck.  I know the pieces I like, but I never know how to wear them.  Now I know. 🙂

We went to get our Christmas tree last night.  It was quite an experience.  I wanted to save a little money and thought we’d go to a “lesser” lot for a good deal.  It turns out that at said lot, Santa directs traffic in his time off.

I should have known that this lot wasn’t a good idea, but we didn’t stop at the traffic-cop Santa.  We saw this sign.  Hmmm.

I think I should back up and tell you that I grew up (in Montana) driving into the forest and cutting our tree from the scraggly bunch that was growing not too far from our back yard.  So, this whole going to a lot business is still a little weird to me.

Brent made an executive decision to go to a nicer Christmas tree lot with rides and concessions.  I have to agree it was WAY better and the trees were actually cheaper than the ghetto lot.

OK, back to my issues with picking trees off a lot.  Flocked trees…that’s weird too.  Of course my kids were begging for a flocked tree.  They kind of do look pretty close up…but still weird.

Here’s my little bargain shopper.  Again, trees with price tags??

To finish all the documentation of our Christmas tree experience- a family picture taken by the train-ride operator.  I love the guy running out of the background. 🙂

There you have it…our first LA Christmas tree hunt.  By the way all these were taken without a flash…with my 50…all at 1.2.

-Kristin

Awhile ago, Shannon and I swapped taking pictures of each others’ families.  It was a huge treat for me…first because I never get in front of the camera and second because Shannon is sooooo talented!  The inspiration for the whole thing was a wall in our bedroom.  I put up the ledge shelfing and then wanted to arrange some mounted pictures (unframed) in various sizes all overlapping…a la Pottery Barn.  My room is all done in various shades of grey and olive, so I wanted to keep the coloring simple–and able to blend in with everything else.  I realized that I only had pictures of the kids and since it’s OUR room, I wanted pictures of US.  Enter Shannon…

Poor Shannon has been waiting for ages to see these (because we each editing our own pictures).  Sorry Shannon!  But, she was beyond amazing and I love the way she arranged us and interacted with the kids.  It’s hard to get a family of 5 all looking decent!

These are the only ones I have edited right now, but I’m so excited to go back through all the great pictures she took.  Now I’ll have so many choices for my wall ledge!

Shannon…thank you again SO much for giving us a little piece of history to look back on. 🙂

-Kristin