What a difference 110 degrees makes...

When we left Alaska it was -30 F and today it was 80 F in Kauai. Those of you who don't live in the arctic may not have experienced the depression that comes from the long, cold, dark winters. Some turn to pharmaceuticals, we take the more expensive route and go to Hawaii. We arrived yesterday at 9 pm and within 12 hours, any signs of depression are gone. In fact, as seen in the picture below, Angela is in a euphoric state. She is talking to her mom saying something to the effect of, "Dude mom, it is so hot here, I love it. Don't know if I have told you this, but I love Hawaii. Have I told you that lately that I love Hawaii?" Yeah it gets a bit old after the 23rd time but Angela's mom is patient. I will narrate through the next few pictures.

Kaitlyn couldn't believe that the sand wasn't frozen on the beach. She is holding up her prized possession of sand that isn't frozen, saying something like, "Dad, this sand is so warm. The beach is so much more fun when you don't have to wear a parka!"

I asked Kali what she was thinking when she was swinging. She said very matter of factually, "I wonder if I am going to get some ice cream." Apparently she was a bit hot too.

Owen, my poor albino child born in the arctic. His pasty white skin has hardly seen the sun. Do they make SPF 200, I think that is the only thing that could protect his white, white skin. He does love it though, look at the expression on his face. Here are a few more pictures. I will be posting the next few weeks, sorry in advance for all the Hawaii posts.

Fat Heads

I took some old pictures and made some fat head kids. I will try and get the rest of the family done some time. Not really any story behind the pictures, I just didn't take very many this weekend and was struggling for something to post. ~Erik

Will the real Santa please stand up?

Sorry for 2 posts in one night but I had to post. Which Santa do you think we liked better? Tell us your first impressions. Yeah, I know Owen is in his happy place in the second picture.

Firework Party

There was a celebration last weekend welcoming Christmas to the town. The kids got to see Santa and that night they had fireworks. We bundled the kids up to see the show, but we didn't plan on the 50 mph winds and rain. As luck would have it we were directly down wind from where they were letting off the fireworks. We thought that "hey this is cool, front row seats." that was until glowing hot firecracker beads started raining down on us. You can see by the pictures that the camera also got pelted with rain. Other than the flaming embers falling on us, the hurricane force winds and the rain, a good time was had by all. A few more pics here...

Sledding Fun

After Thanksgiving dinner the kids went sledding down my parents driveway. It was a bit to dark to get some normal pictures so I set up my flashes. The kids had a really good time sledding down the driveway and running back up. Kali doesn't like sledding too much, she is kind of afraid... but Owen and Kaitlyn sure like it. The picture at the bottom shows the set up. There are some other pictures here. ~Erik

Winter fun

Kaitlyn was cruising around on her kitty cat (the little snow machine) this weekend. Probably the closest we will get to a cat. You can see by the picture below that we have a little track in the back yard. The girls don't like the track because they have to turn and slow down for the corners. They just like to ride down the side of our street. Go figure, maybe I should set up a few jumps in the back yard. That might peak their interest. ~Erik

Kali's Birthday

Kali turned 4 today and it was pretty eventful. She had a friend over early in the day then in the evening Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Kim and Aunt Missy came over. Angela made a crazy Hello Kitty cake for her. As you can see by the picture above Kali has Angela's ability, or lack there of, to blow out candles. You can see from the picture that it isn't from lack of trying. She got a Hello Kitty coloring book from Grandma and Grandpa Massey. Also she got a talking cat from Grandpa Stan and Grandma Debbie. You can see from the last picture that she is keeping in touch with here grandparents in San Diego. There are more birthday pics here. ~Erik

High Key Owen

Things have been a bit slow this week. I didn't have much to post about so I dug through some of the old photo's and grabbed this shot of Owen. I edited it up in Lightroom, I still have 17 days on my free trial. I am trying to decided if its worth the cash.
Owen loves to read, well have someone read to him. He is always bringing books to Angela and I to read. It sure is fun having kids in that age range. Maybe not the tantrums and whining but everything else is fun. It would also be nice if he were potty trained...Ok enough. ~Erik

Beach time...

It seemed like everyone was sick this weekend and we spent too much time in the house. We decided to get out and go to the beach. It was probably about 30 degrees outside but not much wind. The kids were glad to get out of the house for a while. You can see by the first picture I was teaching Owen how to throw like a girl. Its never to early to start.... ~Erik

High Key Shots

Here are a few high key shots I took last night. I figured that I needed a backdrop to get good shots but a white wall worked just fine. I set my background flash about 2 stops above my exposure to blow it out then used an umbrella to expose the girls correctly. You can see the setup in the last picture. Had Kaitlyn jump for dramatic effect. Did it work? Enjoy. ~Erik

Keller Family Photo Shoot...

Here are a couple shots from the Keller's photo shoot. With 3 boys under the age of 4 they did very good. Things were getting a bit cold and I was asking the kids to keep smiling. The boys weren't having too much fun until Kali decided to start acting really weird for them. It made the boys smile, don't know what's up with Kali. She takes after her mother. Crazy. ~Erik

Another Pond shot...

Pond Photo Shoot...

I did a photo shoot for some of our friends. They are getting ready to have a kid and wanted some pre-kid shots. I have a few more shots and the lighting set ups that I used on my flickr photo stream. Check it out. Good luck with the kid...~Erik

Year in Review

Erik thought it would be appropriate to write a little about the highlights of our last year. I'll try to sum it up for everyone as best I can. I apologize in advance for writing a novel. The biggest event of the year happened on February 9th - our Owen Jacob was born. The delivery was rough, but he was as sweet as could be. Owen has been so different for me than my girls. He is such a mama's boy and needs to be held constantly. My girls were so independent. Owen never liked his baby swing or bouncy seat or anything that involved me putting him down. On the plus side, he is my first baby that is cuddly. He will give me hugs and kisses anytime and snuggles up to me any chance he gets. He's getting a little more independent now that he can crawl all over the house. He likes to get into everything he can (so maybe he isn't that different from the girls). Anyways, we couldn't be happier with our new addition.

Our next addition to the family was in March, Erik's camera. Erik LOVES his camera. It has been good for our family as well. As Erik has gotten more and more into photography, he has wanted to visit more places and see more things. Lucky for us, he lets us tag along, so we have had tons of super fun family outings. The camera is, by far, my favorite electronic purchase we have ever made.

The third addition to our family came at the beginning of the summer. This addition has brought a little more contention to our marriage than the other two - the boat. The kids love it! Erik feels like a kid when he's on the boat. I'm still trying to figure out how he talked me into it. Not only was it an expensive purchase, but we keep dumping money and time into it. We have had a few totally awesome boating trips with the family and Erik got to go halibut fishing a lot, so all in all I guess it's not too bad. I just find this is one of my favorite things to whine about.

Kaitlyn is doing well. She is as sassy as ever, but she also seems to be especially sensitive to people's feelings and goes out of her way to make people feel good. She has decided that she should be the greeter at sacrament meeting and has taken it on as her unofficial calling, passing out bulletins and greeting everyone with hugs and smiles. She is very social and loves being the center of attention (which she is quite often). She has been taking gymnastics classes and has improved a lot. She has decided her next sport should be soccer, so in March we'll sign her up for indoor soccer. She has proven to be a lot sportier than I originally thought. This last summer she ran an entire 5K with me, never complaining. She placed third in her division, but the other girls were riding bikes, so really she finished 1st in my book.

Kali is my mischievous and funny girl. She is quiet and sweet at times, but she can be just as social and outgoing as Kaitlyn when she wants to be. You can always count on Kali to say funny things. When all the kids at preschool were shouting out what they wanted to be when they grow up, firefighters, doctors, etc., Kali said she wanted to work at McDonalds. She was serious then, but she does have a sense of comic timing that I didn't realize was possible for a 3 year old. She must take after her daddy. She also just started gymnastics and loves it, though sometimes she forgets to listen to her teachers and just runs around like a wild hyena.

Erik and I are just plugging along and looking forward to our trip to Hawaii in January. It has been a fun and eventful year and we want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We're looking forward to seeing my side of the family next week in California.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Well, today I persuaded Erik to come with us to his favorite type of activity - a Soldotna community event. They had their annual tree lighting festival, complete with horse drawn carriage rides and Santa for the kids. The kids and I had a blast. Erik likes to complain about being out with the rest of the town, but I think deep down he likes to see the kids all jazzed about Christmas. Also in this picture medley you'll find a couple of shots that Erik took of Owen this afternoon and one of Owen covered in Kaitlyn's hot chocolate. It slipped out of her hands and all over Owen. Notice the lack of snow in all the pictures. Is this really December in Alaska? I'm not complaining - this is awesome for a girl from So. Cal.