Karen's Photo Journal

Victory

This past Sunday, my family joined our good friends for their annual family picnic. I have been partaking in this ritual on and off for the last twenty years or so. Close friends are family with these guys; that's just the way they roll. 

They start cooking the day before and get to the park early to hold our spot. Needless to say the food is awesome and catching up with everyone is great. It's kinda strange watching the kids grow and change as I don't see some of them except on this yearly occasion.

The part we all look forward to are the games. Egg toss (my hubby and I were champs two years in a row!), tug-of-war, pie eating contest, passing-the-apple (is there a real name for this game?) and, of course the annual softball game.

While I am not a competitive person by nature, I must say victory is sweet. I really must want to gloat if I'm posting this very unflattering photo of myself after winning three rounds of the apple-passing game.  People, this is what victory looks like!!!

 

My daughter rocks the hula hoop!

This one cracks me up... aftermath of the pie eating contest. She didn't win.

My daughter and I challenged hubby and son in the egg toss.  We got out after a short while but they came in third.

I took this just a millisecond after the rope broke.  Man, I wish I had my real camera to capture all of this.  The delay on point and shoots is still annoying.

"A" about to hit it out of the park... in flip-flops!

Bangs...

... it is the question all women go through at some point in their lives. Should I?  Shouldn't I? Ladies, you know what I'm talkin' about! Well, my nine year old decided a few days back that she wanted to cut her hair and get bangs. Just like that. Just blurted it out. "Mom, can we go get my haircut? Right this minute? Now? Pleeeeeeeeeaaassssssse???" Ummmm.... okay.  

Maybe that's the way to do the bang thing. Spontaneously. With no drawn out dialog or concern. Because when you do it that way, look how cute it turns out! And those eyes...

Ten

Ten years ago today I married a man I had known for only four months. Was it craziness, infatuation, love, excitement, stupidity, lust? Yes. But what else do you do when you meet someone that you know will love you to the end, no matter what? Someone that loves your children, no matter what? Someone that will rub your feet any time you stick them in front of him, no matter what? Someone that puts up with your quirks, no matter what? Someone that supports all your crazy ideas, no matter what? Ya gotta marry them, right?

And to all the people that had bets on us that June day ten years ago, we win so pay up!

My Sister's Dog

This is Lunchbox, my sisters dog.  This is the closest I am getting to her having babies right now, so this is like a furry little nephew to me.  Isn't he cute?  I would however, prefer a real, human-like nephew... or niece... come on sis, no pressure!  ha ha

 

This was taken with my kids little point and shoot camera.  Not bad, eh?

Ode to my Fathers and Other Ramblings...

I have my blog so people can get to know not just my photography, but me as well. Good, bad and ugly, right? I'm not sure which category this post falls under. Maybe all three, with a little joy and confusion thrown in the mix...

I have three fathers (and two mothers but that's another post!) You see, I'm adopted. My family tree has all sorts of off-shoots, twists and turns. I have siblings, step-siblings, half- siblings... (I consider all to be siblings though, no prefixes, for better or worse.) 

I only met my birth father once. He looks something like this:

He was actually very handsome, a model, and guess what? Did some photography from what I understand... and music. My two favorite things! I think he was freaked out to met his 20 year old (at the time) daughter when he was only 38 himself, hot and single.  I am now older (only slightly, people!!!) then he was when I first met him.  Weird. I have tried to find him again so I can send him photos of his grandchildren but have had no luck tracking him down. I have a half sister too I have never met, my only blood-sibling.  I'd love to met up with them one day...  Maybe the laws of attraction will bring him to this post. How about The Locator?  LOL

Alright, shifting gears to stop my eyes from welling up... enter Dad number one. (Yes number one.  Sorry birth-dad, you didn't raise me so you just get an honorable mention.) This is the fabulous man that adopted me when I was just four weeks old. He and my mom first adopted my brother, then me. Thanks dad, I owe you!  The kids and I had lunch with him today:

(OMG, my kids are getting huge.) That white haze behind us turns into an ocean on clearer days.  Lucky guy has lived here since my parents divorced when I was four.  I grew up watching the Z-Boys surf and skateboard around this Ocean Park neighborhood every weekend I was here. I fell in love with it and became the first girl I knew to have a skateboard.

So I am adopted and a product of divorce.  See, it's getting interesting isn't it?  You want to start analyzing me now, don't you???  "No wonder she feels such an urgency to preserve memories via her photography!"  Yea, yea, whatever.  I'm an artist, photography is my medium and that's all there is to it!  LOL

Okay, enter Dad number two, my fab step-dad!  He's been around since I was seven and lives three minutes away. Even with my mom passing away he has been there for me and my brother.  He has seen a lot of loss in his life but I will really start crying if I write about that so... well.. here is a photo of us from last Fathers Day.  He is currently visiting New York so that made the Fathers Day visits a bit easier this year.  Happy Fathers Day dad, if you are reading this.

So, yea, go Dodger Blue and yes, my son cut off all his gorgeous curls (although it's hard to tell how nice his curls were in this photo).  I think he looks good with the short hair too.  You can see how handsome he is! (Yep, I'm the dork on the right.)

And of course I have to wish a happy Father's Day to the Firefighter.  He was off saving lives today (I love saying that! hee hee hee) so we will celebrate his special day tomorrow.  He has been such a great daddy to the kids. Here we are at his station.  He looks sooooo good in his uniform! 

So there is a piece of my crazy life, and I wouldn't have it any other way! I love my men - good, bad, ugly, joyful and confusing!  Happy Father's Day!

My Little Theater Star!

My nine year old daughter just preformed in her first elementary school production.  This is a big deal if you know how shy she is.  I was so proud of her for just getting up the nerve and trying out and guess what?  She loved it! She was picked as Lisa, the best friend and bridesmaid of Sophie, in Mama Mia. (They asked me to take production stills... of the wedding... Is anyone else seeing the irony?)

Anyway, here is a shot during the rehearsal of my little one belting it out!

Happy B-day Miss A!

My baby turns nine today.  Okay, not so much baby left in her but she is my youngest and it's hard to know there will be no more little ones after her. Miss A is the most awesome of awesome kids.  I love her to pieces! And she puts up with me wanting to hug her all the time so what more could you want? AND she watches American Idol with me, Dancing with the Stars and Martha Stewart!  Part of our evolving bonding ritual!  I also believe this is my future photo assistant.  She already has an eye and talent for it so you guys might see her join me on shoots one day!

Happy birthday honey!

A Rookie No More

Congratulations to the Firefighter for finishing his year on probation with LAFD.  He got his full shield on Sunday (rookies only have a half shield).  We are sooooo proud of him!  (And he looks hot in his uniform!)

Tree Burning 101

Lesson one... don't do this unless your hubby is a professional...

Lesson two... stand back...

I think he had way too much fun doing this.  The poor tree went up lickety-split.  I can see why these are fire hazards!

What do Ornaments Mean to You?

I took some photos to do a scrapbook page on which ornaments are the families favorites and I thought it would make a fun post.  So, while the kids enjoy their new toys (daughter on the Wii Fitness and son on an X-box Shaun White Snowboarding game) I thought I'd post some photos. We celebrate all holidays around here (makes life a lot more interesting!) and putting the ornaments on the tree every year is a fun family event.  Although I am always in awe of color coordinated tree decorations, I love the craziness of our tree.  Every ornament has a meaning to us and the kids start reminiscing about what the decorations mean to them.  All the ornaments are my favs but obviously that post would be way too long so here are a few of them so share with you all.

This is both the kids favorite.  He is on a spring and bounces around.  I got this for my son when he was about three but his sis has come to love it as well.  One of the dogs knocked it over last year and I tried to patch it up. More character, right?

I got this one last year, from my favorite non-profit (Red).  I love the message on many levels... and it's pretty!

I love hand carved/crafted ornaments.  So much better then all the plastic garbage out there.  We have many in this style. (And yes that is Spiderman in the background! Plastic, but one of my hubbies favs!)

We also have many that follow the peace and love theme...

With a Firefighter husband, you tend to start collecting gems like these. We added two more this year thanks to our friends Kris and Terri!  Thanks guys!

Another hand-carved one.  We got this in Santa Barbara on our honeymoon.

Something you need to know about me... I love my Coca Cola!  I have a few of these guys!  (You should see the humongous antique sign hanging in my kitchen!)

I made this ornament when the kids were three and ten (five years ago! Yikes!)

Anything having to do with the ocean has a place on our tree...