Renee & Shane.
Originally there was rain forecast for Renee &
Shane’s wedding day but it held off until early
the following day. Prayer works!
This unique day started with the fact that they
had chosen the Chapel at Ft. Snelling in St. Paul
for the ceremony, they selected Ft. Snelling State
Park and Rice Park for their formals and finished
up at the very lovely St. Paul Hotel.
A group of only about 80 but enough faith, hope
& love to fill the new Twins stadium and enough
celebration to last a lifetime 
Congratulations Renee & Shane!
A sneak peak…
Alicia & Matt.
What a day this was!
Alicia padded the day with TONS of time
for me to capture all sorts of fun at several
spots…it’s not common to have that luxury.
Congratulations Alicia and Matt!
I thank you for allowing me the privilege to
come along side you for the day.
(Oh, and p.s. slide.com is working on making
the images larger, I’m told, so I apologize
for the postage stamp sized images.)
Alicia & Matt.
What a day this was!
Alicia padded the day with TONS of time
for me to capture all sorts of fun at several
spots…it’s not common to have that luxury.
Congratulations Alicia and Matt!
I thank you for allowing me the privilege to
come along side you for the day.
(Oh, and p.s. slide.com is working on making
the images larger, I’m told, so I apologize
for the postage stamp sized images.)
Here we go….
Okay, so I have had a TON of people wonder
if I’m ever going to blog again. In person,
on the phone, on facebook etc…even my sister,
who hasn’t blogged since the first snowfall
in early November, wants to know when I’m going
to blog again. The answer is “yes” and I will
make every attempt to back into the everyday
routine. I secretly missed doing it but truth be
told, I enjoyed the break.
My first wedding of the season is today.
JoAnn and Rick are getting married at
Murphy’s Landing in Shakopee in, what will be, my
first ever “period” wedding. The wedding party
will be dressed to reflect the period and the
wedding party and guests were encouraged to do the
same. I can’t wait!
Yesterday I finally met Owen. He is the newborn
son of Kelly and Jeff Read. They have been waiting
for his arrival and this joy for a long time.
You see, they lost Alliah a year ago, December 8th,
at 29 weeks gestation. I was called in to photograph
her for NILMDTS and that is how we met.
A bond was formed and I am certain that this family
will be a part of my life forever!
Interestingly enough, his full name is Owen Patrick.
He is exactly 3 years and 51 weeks younger than
our Owen Patrick (my nephew). Both Owens have their
grandfather’s first name as their middle name.
As you can imagine, my mouth dropped open when she
said “Owen Patrick”. 
These are just a sample of his first, official
photo session…I just aDORE him!
Lastly, today I want to share the new basement.
The images that are propped up along the ledge
will come down as I have some giant images on
their way to go up in their place.
Thanks for your patience.
You may subscribe to my blog by clicking
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That way, mom, you don’t have to check
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Have a great day.
MILK.
Gary and I saw the movie Milk last night. WOW!
True stories always seem to be favorites for me.
I will pray that Sean Penn receives the Oscar
for Best Actor! Amazing talent! We will be watching
the Oscars in Playa tomorrow night.
But first we have to clear all this snow
we got last night! What happened to 1-2
inches? Looks more like 5 to me. Sven…
At least it looks clean and, dare I say,
pretty outside again.
Brenda and Jorge are coming to pick us up
at the airport tomorrow! I can’t wait to
see them, Vaughn, Judy, Alejandro and the
whole wild Mayan bunch!
When you are in Playa del Carmen, please
stop in and visit these wonderful folks at
their restaurant on 4th…1/2 block west of
the famous “5th Avenue”. And bring your
dancin’ shoes! They provide live music every
night at AJUA (pronounced ah-Hoo’-ah!)
Jorge will salsa the night away with you in
the street and their staff will entertain
you like no other restaurant in town!
My sister is coming over this morning and
we are going to hit the gym together!
I think she just wants to come and see Boo!
The Heat is On!
Well, soon anyway…Kleeve will be here
between 10 and noon today to fix our furnace.
It’s been out for nearly 3 days! The last two
nights we have slept with the gas fireplace on,
an electric heater in the bedroom AND electric
mattress pad! CRAZY! We didn’t want to pay the
“emergency” fee for Sunday so we just called and
scheduled for them to come by today.
In the mean time, we continue to work on the
lower level remodel. Very exciting! I’ll try to
remember (cold on the brain!) to post some before
and afters as we work from side to side.
New wood floors by the bar, new carpet by the
theater, and then the wood floors will pick up
again on my office side, go into the salon, down
the hall and into the bath. I KNOW! Fun, right?!
For now I am working in a mess…a real mess.
I had to meet with Jen and Andy at a remote location
to discuss my photographing their wedding in October!
That one is a “go”! I’m very excited! It was actually
GARY that recommended her to me! Thanks Gary! The
wedding will take place at Mount Olivet in Minneapolis
and the reception will be at Windows on the top of
the IDS tower! This is a combination that I have
photographed before but this time there will be time
for a photo walk around town….I’m so pumpep about
that! Here’s Rick and Amanda Gorra from July ’06.
That was a fun one…my brother in law was
in the wedding party so my sister was there as well!
Well, it’s snowing again, and I just said to
Nicki that it’s nearly the middle of January
and I still think the snow is pretty so I guess
that makes me a hearty Minnesotan! Or maybe it’s
that we booked our flights to Mexico this morning!
Stay warm, a deep freeze is approaching…AGAIN!
Still sick, still tired.
Whatever this is that we have, it stinks.
Gary finally slept in the other room last night.
The alternating coughing keeps us up.
I think I slept well, it’s just weird when
1/2 of a giant king sized bed is gone.
Then again…..kinda nice. :\
I managed to make it to St. Paul yesterday
to photograph a family of 12. Four are
their own and then they adopted 6 others.
2 of the adopted boys suffer some of the effects
of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and that’s why I made
the treck to their home. They will be in the
pages of the annual report for MOFAS.
Gorgeous boys with beautiful smiles.
Thanks for welcoming me into your home!
Today I am on call for NILMDTS.
I can only pray that it goes as well as Sunday
when there were no calls in the west!
NEXT Thursday I have a NACE event that is at
the new Westin Hotel in Edina near the Galaria.
I get to meet Sylvia Weinstock! I’m pretty excited about that.
I LOVE cake! I hope she brings samples! 
Well, I’m going to try to make something of
this day and I trust you will too.
70 and sunny? I’ll take it!
Mr. & Mrs. Murphy.
This past Saturday Sadie & Derek became Mr.
& Mrs. Murphy! Here’s some of my faves from
the day. Loved the Cinema Ballroom on St. Clair
in St. Paul for a reception venue!!
Mr. & Mrs. Murphy.
This past Saturday Sadie & Derek became Mr.
& Mrs. Murphy! Here’s some of my faves from
the day. Loved the Cinema Ballroom on St. Clair
in St. Paul for a reception venue!!
Apologies.
I promise I’ll catch up with my blogging in a day or two.
Just gotta catch up with myself and fight the urge to nap!
Today I’m off to shoot a wedding in St. Paul and it is an
absolutely GORGEOUS day! The humidity is finally gone!
Should be able to really shoot my heart out today without
changing. No second shooter today but it’s all taking place
at the St. Paul College Club This is going to be awesome!!
To my loyal blog readers, I apologize for slacking here
and to my most recent wedding couples, I am STILL going to
post some images for you.
Go out and soak up this perfect day and run off all those
State Fair Pronto Pups!!
Amy Jes, I’ll send you some Fair food! Sorry you missed it.
