there was this one time...

thrilled

chris and i have been working hard on our new jac website makeover for a long time. (sooo close to being done!) so when it came time for us to get new photos of ourselves taken for the site, chris asked one of our favorite photographers. at first it was to just be him and i, but as the date got closer, i KNEW i couldn't pass up the kids not joining us. so we spent a few minutes with them before we headed out to do our own thing. i am SO GLAD WE DID.

 

click here to see the pics on his blog. 

it was so interesting to see how the kids reacted to someone else taking their photos. the 3 older kids meshed with jon quickly and laughed along with him. i am so thrilled to see the beauty he captured in kira. she's becoming such a young woman now that it takes my breath away. love that he got cam with his guitar. and caleb just being silly caleb. the brother shots kill me! elsie was a little shy/nervous i think. so i adore the ones of her with her family and her with chris and i. that's where she is comfortable, with her clan. :) and you can totally see that come through!

i can count on my hand how many family photos we have together and there's not a lot! so now i will treasure these little gems forever! it's somewhat addicting i think, now i am like- let's do it again! i want more more more! :) we had such a great time with jon... we thank him with all our hearts! 

new york via iphone

we spent a few days in new york for a wedding recently and i was naughty and only took photos with my iphone :) chris took some film and polaroids so we'll have to wait for those. the thought of bringing my big camera out in the city with the sometimes rain just didn't appeal to me :)
looooove stone paved streets. sigh.

just cute.
so excited to walk pass her little place here!

i wasn't crazy about the subway.

skinny, tall alleys that remind me of italy.

we were very tired from shooting 10.5 hour wedding so when we reached this bridge, i knew i didn't have much in me to make it all the way across and then back. i am very happy we only went 1/4 way across :)

we arrived in soho a little early. the streets were very quiet.
mid afternoon stop for a latte. loved the view from where i was sitting. i love all the tall apartments and fire escapes. this neighborhood made me plan on moving here when all of the kids are on their own. i loved it!

thank goodness for iphones! chris remembered eating at this other little cafe once so he googled, eggs in a bowl, soho and we found our way :) i am totally fascinated by apartment living in NY. part of me wants to take the kids out of school for a year just to expose ourselves to living in NY- just for a year, then we'd come back and they'd finish back at home!

the wedding was an hour out of the city. the greenery along the freeway made me think of living in virginia, we miss that kind of scenery when driving along!

a little glimpse of the wedding site, their home. we love that google is how this lovely couple found us. she was dating a jamie waters and googled him, this blog here came up and she followed it for quite awhile. and when he proposed, she thought it fitting that jamie waters in california come shoot jamie waters in new york. we can't wait to share their wedding pics, we adore them! :)

one day i had about 4 hours alone, walking the streets with my iphone map to guide me :) i remembered that the last time i was there, i was pregnant with kira. so long ago! i don't spend a whole lot of time alone in the first place so i tried to not be too much of a chicken :) we laughed that in a taxi we were watching the weather forecast and it said adjectives like, sticky. muggy. ha- we don't have those kind of forecasts here... but the weather was surprisingly nice, one afternoon we came out of the subway to buckets of rain. it was kinda fun, running to our next destination in the rain! and on the day of the wedding, it poured all morning and afternoon.... and stopped just as the lovely bride walked down the aisle, and the sun came out. it was truly amazing. another great trip for our books :)

new york city and australia

i love trips! :)
we have 2 exciting trips planned this year! chris is in the early stages of planning a trip to NYC first week of june (2-4). if you are interested in a shoot of any kind, family or engagement, contact us at info at jacshoot dot com.

then, the waters six clan is heading to Australia.  chris is from australia and most of his family still lives there, we started this blog in 05 specifically to keep in touch with our kids as just chris and i went to AUS  and we've long wanted to take the kids down there to see where he was born. we are so excited!

we'll be in melbourne and surrounding suburbs for the first three weeks of july. we've had some interest in shoots while we are there- contact me, we'd love to do some! i'm also planning on teaching a scrapbooking class while we're down there, more details to follow:) 

a night out

chris has some family visiting from australia so for a treat, we went to the magic castle! chris and i hadn't been there before and it was fun to get dressed up (they have a dress code- yes me and chris all dressed up is a rare thing!) and be with the family! before we left, we had kira snap this shot of us :)

and then i wanted pics of kira and i together- our girl is growing up right before our eyes! she has a winter formal next week that we are not ready for! can't believe that! 

chris' uncle and aunt from australia with his parents. we loved seeing photos of all their beeeeeautiful grandchildren and long for the day when all our children can play together in australia! hopefully soon!!

and the fantastic magic castle, hollywood-- which was built in 1909 and has featured some of the world's top magicians! 

us, updated :)

look here :)
chris and i trekked down south today to help out at a shootshop. we are rarely, okay, neverrrrrrr--in front of the camera unless it's chris extending his arm out-- you've seen all our london and italy pictures :)
i have no words, just lots of squealing and giggling like a little girl. these are like the engagement session pictures we never got. we are ever so thankful nate. for the photos... the constant inspiration, and the day full of SO many laughs.
we thank you.

old school!!

that's 1994! :)
chris' graduation. that little frame has been with me since 1994. i had one in a similar frame with our prom picture but i seem to have misplaced it along the years. (what kind of scrapbooker am i?!) im gonna have to go to my mother in laws house and take some pictures of it. chris and i were at a wedding yesterday where during the father/daughter dance they were also playing a slideshow of the father and daughter. chris and BOTH thought at that instant that A- we are SO copying that, B- again-- SO few pics of us WITH our kids.

and holy heck- in the month of september, i took a shocking 27 personal photos. that's just not right! just today i took e to the park, complete with her ariel sunglasses and pink scooter (thanks, J! :)) and i almost ran back inside to grab the camera, but didn't.

anyways, the reason i felt compelled to post this was because the other day i was driving by chris' high school (that's something i do daily) but this time, i went down this street to where i used to pick him up and eeeeeek, we'd ditch. back when our biggest concern of the day was hmmmm where are we going to have lunch today??? lol- isn't it funny that our concern wasn't- i hope we dont get caught ditching! -- what can you say- last few months of senior year- total joke.

there you go. me and him. total random and blabbering post about us. and pictures.

and omg! it just happens to be my cousin's birthday today (just looked at the calendar!) and she's the one who set me and chris up! crazy! happy birthday, chan!

8.8.08

so tomorrow there are supposed to be thousands of couples getting married.. because of the date 8/8/8 :) the lucky day. chris and i will be shooting a wedding together-- my oasis friends might recognize our bride! :)  she's a loyal customer and student there-- others who've taught there are also sure to recognize her loveliness!!

haaaaa-- these pics are from our yosemite trip (rachael, yes i am finally gonna go thru them myself :) ) minutes before we went in the water behind us for our anniversary white water rafting trip. excuse the 'yes we just woke up 10 minutes ago and it's ridiculously early and why isn't there a starbucks in yosemite?' appearances.

i like to think that in the midst of shooting weddings together... in the midst of the stress and chaos and trying to get the shots-- chris and i take a sec to renew our own vows--often i will look over at him during an especially touching moment of the ceremony and i get a wink back. sigh, love when we are on the same level!! :)

so on 8-8-8--- though we are not the superstitious type- i am happy, proud, overjoyed to be part of the chaos that comes along with all of this....with him.

london

i didn't realize how little photos we took in london till i was looking thru them now. i think we were SO tired by this time.. we opted to do the red tour bus thing for our one day in london. we left the hotel bright and early and came home late.

we were so glad the sun came out for us that day.. the night before we came in to rain.. went to notting hill in the rain so didn't get to really see it much or take pics. i want to go back!

this was taken outside of the national gallery where we checked out some van gogh and monet's.. lovely. i fell in love with vincent's yellow chair.

outside buckingham palace:

chris with a bit of guards behind him. teeny.

ben and a cathedral

and we ended our day with this.. there were so many good shows playing, it was hard to pick but this was spectacular! i'd love to take kira- she'd love it!

and the view from our hotel room. i am a hotel freak. i spent hours researching hotels.. and was sooo pleased that ours was clean and lovely and when we go back, im totally staying here again. earl's court, we love you!

thanks for all the sweet annivesary comments... i need chris to get our yosemite pics off his laptop so i can blog those. we had a blast :)

Ten!

10 Years.
Four amazing kids.
One beautiful wife.
One lucky man.

To the family that has supported us every step of the way...Thank you.
To the children that bring such joy to our hearts...We adore you.
To the friends who surround us with encouragement…We feel you!
To the girl I’m blessed to call my wife….I love you!

I am humbled by the infinite depth of your love, the boundless energy you give to your family, and the patience that makes you an angel among us mortals. 

You've given me the best kind of life, the kind that constantly requires me to pinch myself to make sure it's really true!  Here's to the next 10!

italy part II

it was so worth it to me to buy a new charger.. even though we don't need one here at home. we have 4 now. lol. i will cherish my trip pictures. how's this for an opening post? hello heavenly gelato!

em and her fam in anacapri:

 

riding up a solo chair lift in capri. yes i am scared of heights so i was a tad nervous.

leaving capri

entering the lovely sorrento..see that hill on the right? yeah we climbed stairs up that. ouuuuuuuuuch.

pompeii... this is the day our camera died.

 

then the next day we happened upon a excavated roman resort.. no one in sight.. no tourists or souveniers.. just the guide and us. what a treasure.

 

chris will have to clarify what carmena is doing here

 

how amazing is it to walk down streets like this. so gorgeous.

the walls and doors everywhere. so lovely.

chris became quite the expert on self portraits

 

 

i probably will post one more italy batch before i take on london. which is basically a lot of pics of me and chris holding out the camera in front of us. :)

 

(i posted tonight for you, mihan. xoxo)