Christmas Cards and Family Portraits

This fall was busy shooting all the family portraits that were going to fill many christmas cards. Here are some of my favorites...the top photo is my beautiful family. (This is how that chaos talked about earlier turned out, pretty good if I have to say so myself.)

My sisters families...

The Spencer Clan (Thornton & Ethington)

The Skaggs Family

The Taylor Family

Our Christmas Card this Year.

Christmas Music Traditions

Ohh, nothing rolls in the holiday spirit like Christmas music...Christmas music played my amazingly talented musicians is even better. My father who lives and breaths orchestral music ( this is a man that on our way to piano lessons would turn on the classical station in the radio and have us guess the composer and period or era) has made a tradition of going to the annual Vivaldi by Candlelight concert. It really is a lovely experience to dress up (when in high school us girls would wear our old prom dresses, now just classy but warm does the job) and then listen to a small section of the UT symphony play concertos and minuets from Vivaldi and other Baroque composers. It is always held in a cathedral or church where the acoustics are best.  I always love to meditate while listening to the music, I listen to the violins and harpsichord keeping track of all the movements as I follow along in my program. Its a yearly brush up on the definitions of all the tempos, allegro, andante, adagio, largo etc. What a beautiful tradition, Thanks pops.

We also love to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concerts, we have been lucky enough to get pulled these last few years as all the tickets are free but are handed out lottery style. We have enjoyed their majestic performances with special guests including Angela Lansbury, Walter Cronkite, The King Singers, and this year Brian Stokes Mitchell and Edward Herrmann. I recognized Brian as the singing voice of Jethro in the movie Prince of Egypt. He performed "Through Heavens Eyes" from the movie and I have to admit it was one of my favorites. Afterwards we strolled through the light display on Temple Square which, I have to admit, never looses its magic, even after a couple decades for me.

December Posts

This is one of the many posts that will document our festivities over this last month. While taking a break from everything else I also took a break from blogging ...but now it is time to catch up.

At the first of the month were finally able to tend the little Boys after being called off for a few weeks. (guess not very many people having babies this time of year so the boys' mom didnt have to work) It was so good to hear their little voices and to play with them. We took them to see the lights at thanksgiving point where after we got to pet a couple of reindeer. The next day we woke up to a load of freshly fallen snow so we had to get out and build a snow-person. 

(as a photographer you would think that I would carry around a camera everywhere I go but sometimes I forget....thats where my hubby's iphone comes in real handy.... when Im dying to document an event but feeling pretty naked without my gear. Thats how these memories where captured...a little blurry but captured nonetheless) 

Im Dreaming of an Orange Christmas...

Its that time of year where Reece lets me and my creativity run wild as I deck our halls for the holiday season. We finally got our lights up this year (over the past few years we escalated a little bit each christmas, first we had no lights, then bought the lights but never put them up, then Reece put up one strand before I forced him to stop because of a storm, and now this year we got a neighbor to hang them all for us while the snow was so late in coming) YAY! we finally twinkle at night.

This year I was intrigued by some ribbon and a decorative throw that my mother gave me as she knew that I love terra-cottas and oranges. I wanted a newer look but didnt want to buy anything new so I gathered everything that I had that was either orange/copper/bronze, white, brown, and gold. And this is what I came up with. I found a creative way to display the two Japanese Obis that we brought back from our trip as garlands on the tree. I also found a sack of fat quarters of oriental silks in browns, tans, and creams that i was collecting for a future quilt that I was able to stash here and there. I had a ball.

The throw is on the back of the couch. We picked it out during a very long shopping day in Rhodes. I love it.

Yes those are japanese paper umbrellas. Different yes, but they grow on you.

Duboise (Dubie) and Mittens (Mitsy) didnt like getting pulled out from under their favorite seasonal "hiding place" (under the tree after messing up and nesting in the tree skirts) for a family portrait. They are the reason we finally went "Fake" as people are calling it, as the kittens would drink all the water and kill all our trees within the first three days. I got tired of sitting around brittle grey and brown trees on Christmas morning. SO we got this beaute.

Just as we got up our Christmas atmosphere, the Madisons and Meffords wanted to have a second Thanksgiving, this time all of us being together. So I got to pull out the wooden turkey that my mother got me and was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to use in the near future (with all the Johns' destination Thanksgivings). I continued my love affair with orange and we got a fun and festive table to go along with all the yummy food (all special dishes from Reece's parents' business 'A Dinner Market' ). It was a very fun and filling evening.

My Husband the Pied Piper

         {Oh how the little tikes from

  near and far flock to this amazing man}

....And these little rats too. (both of them are there)

Andrew The Photographer

Here are some selects from all the photographs

my little nephew took at the Chihuly exhibit.

Isn't he good? He's 9.

So cool. Hope we can shoot together over Christmas.