Here is a little video of Soren's first day of crawling. He stumbles a bit still but is very determined to move. We are so excited for him and at the same time we realize that we have just entered a whole new era of mobile baby. Time to baby proof the house and keep a much closer eye on our little creeper. The video was shot and edited on my iPhone 4. More »

Yesterday Holly and I packed up Soren and all of the Soren supplies and made the trip down to Shelton to celebrate my mothers and my birthday. My grandmother and her new husband Milt happened to be there on their way back from my cousins wedding in Livingston MT. My brothers also showed up each bringing an other (Jen for Tyson and Tads new 8 month old puppy Maebel). It was Gammie and Milt's first time meeting Soren and he put on a full show for the family. Complete with rolling over, lots of smiling, bouncing in his jumper and eating cheerios for the grand finally. It is always great to see my family but since Soren was born it has made me excited to share him and his changes with my extended family and also highlights how much time has passed since they have last seen him. More »

A few nights ago I had the pleasure of shooting portraits of Nick for his Senior year in high school. Met up over at Seward Park just before sunset to try to catch some good light. Nick's father Pat was along and since he was not in the photos he quickly became my VALS (Voice Activated Light Stand) for the shoot. Most of these photos were taken with the help of one SB-28 off camera through an silk umbrella (held in position by Pat the VALS for the evening). This allowed us to get a bit of light on Nick and shoot against the setting sun for what I think turned out to be a cool set of senior photos. Thanks to Pat and Nick for calling me up for their portraits I had a great time. More »

I got my camera out and took some photos of Soren playing on a blanket on the floor of our living room last weekend. He has so many faces in such a short time. The little guy is getting much closer to crawling and he loves to spend time on his tummy. His first tooth has crested on the bottom and it should be visible in photos in a few weeks. We have also started feeding him rice cereal and he gets about 50% of it on his bib, 25% on his face and the rest we assume he is eating. More »

This afternoon in Renton the winds were howling and the large maple in our back yard had just finished leafing out for the spring. Holly being home with Soren heard a loud crack and then ran to the kitchen window to find it covered with branches. A major limb of the one large tree in our backyard snapped off and fell toward the house. After a trips to Ace Hardware and the gas station I was able to cut the branches against the house away and inspect for damage. We were Lucky in that most of the force missed the house and the worst damage was to the hot tub cover. It looks like we will be cutting down the tree to prevent further damage to our house but our tree will be missed and we will be planting another in it's place. More »

Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of taking photos of Cliff and Sommer's new baby boy Xavier. He is quite the cutie and compared to our 20 pound 5 month old Soren Xavier was tiny. It was good to meet Xavier and I'm sure he will be destined for great things with such talented parents to guide him. More »

For Easter we headed over to Holly's aunt and uncle's house Jim and Barb in Gig Harbor after a brisk walk around our neighborhood in the crisp spring air. We bundeled Soren up and ploped him in the Bob as the sun rose. Jim and Barb have a beautiful home on the water with an amazing view and it is always relaxing just to hang out there for a few hours. This was the second time many of Holly's family had seen Soren and they were all amazed by how much he has grown. Barb knitted Soren a super cute beret and a matching sweater that we were pleased to see still fit him. Jim and Barb had a wonderful spread of food and Holly and I took turns eating and watching Soren. More »

Today the family headed out after Soren's nap and met up with Cora and Justin at the Jr. Daffodil Parade in north Tacoma. We arrived just in time to watch the last few groups walk past and to get a few daffodils. Soren immediately tried to eat them but what do you expect from the little guy. We walked around the proctor district for a little shopping and then headed to Cora's folks house for some brunch and some of their famous Reuter bread. From what I gather the bread is a family recipe and several years back James sent the recipe to Martha Stewart to try. More »

A few photos of Soren kicking butt on his tummy. Well more of kicking and moving his butt while on his tummy. He has finally figured out how to prop himself up on his arm a bit. Up until now he would just wave them about his sides and grunt while lifting his head up. I can't believe how fast he is growing up. He'll be crawling in no time. More »

It has been a whirlwind of a ride with the new little one. I have been snapping photos of him whenever I get time but my free time really has taken a hit. Soren is really becoming interactive now. He smiles, laughes and giggles which brightens up my day every time he does it. Here are a few of the 200 photos that I took yesterday in a 15 minute session when Holly was washing his face. It is amazing how many expressions he can make in such a short time. More »

I had the privileged of taking some maternity photos for some old college friends of mine. Sommer and I sang in the PLU Jazz Choir for several years together and cliff played in the Jazz band. Both of them kept gigging after college and are still playing and singing in the greater Seattle Tacoma area. Sommer was a bit anxious about the portraits but as soon as we got started she relaxed and we were able to enjoy the process. Cliff had some great ideas at the end and I had a great time laughing along with them. More »

I recently had the opportunity to take a work related trip out to St. Louis. This was my first time in the great state of Missouri. In my time outside of work I got to taste some pretty authentic BBQ, and spend a sunset taking photos of the Gateway Arch and the St. Louis skyline. More »