Home again at last...

Well, we’re back from the Pacific Northwest. Nine days away from home…Got in late last night. Parrish got back to Honolulu around 2 a.m., CST. We actually had pleasant flights both to and from, if airline travel can be considered pleasant these days…

We had beautiful weather for our entire trip. Sunny at least part of every day, and a misty rain only on one day. Temps ranged from highs in the low 50’s to highs in the mid 70’s. Got pretty cold at night, though—down into the low 40’s and upper 30’s.

We put 700 miles on the rental car. We spent time in Tacoma, Gig Harbor, Purdy, Port Townsend, Anacortes, Friday Harbor, North Bend, Snoqualmie, and Seattle. I took nearly 2,000 photos. We saw the Olympic Mountains, the Cascade Mountains, Mount Rainier, and Mount Baker. We took the ferry to and from San Juan Island. We visited Pike’s Market and Pioneer Square in Seattle. We saw Snoqualmie Falls. We visited a train museum and the diner where they filmed part of the TV show Twin Peaks. We had dinner with friends, breakfast with friends. We stayed at The Tucker House, Salish Lodge, the Crown Plaza, and in a 5^th Wheel camper…we stayed somewhere different almost every night. We had great massages at the Salish Lodge. We have no clean clothes left, and mail is covering the dining room table. Woofey and Anna are still annoyed with us. We both have tons of work piled up that all needs to be done yesterday…

Now we need a vacation to recover from our vacation.

I'll post some photos as soon as I have time to upload and process all of them.

OK, just how beautiful is she? I had the pleasure of photographing this gorgeous little girl, along with four other beautiful children, Tuesday afternoon.

We worked in the town square of historic downtown Franklin, TN. The beautiful old buildings made for the perfect backdrop.

The little girls are wearing dresses from Flit & Flitter. Mimi's outfit is from the Turtle Dove Collection. Isn't it gorgeous? Such rich colors and textures.

And this little angel? How precious is she? Beautiful Katie is wearing a frock from Flit & Flitter's Chickadee Collection. So whimsical!

Katie, Mimi, and their brothers were such a joy to photograph. Not only are they beautiful, but well-behaved too. And their mom's are pretty cool as well. They'd have to be to dress their kids in such awesome clothes, wouldn't they?

I haven't had time to process all the images yet--and haven't done any of the boys so far--but I wanted to share at least a few right away. I'll post more as I finish with them. So check back often!

So much happening...

Gosh, I have been so flippin' busy the past two months!

Rebekah and I have one more school to photograph this fall, and all the paperwork and processing that goes with it. Plus wedding albums orders coming in, family pictures for Christmas, and a few high school seniors...and one really exciting project I'll share when it's done.

I also have plans for a whole new look for Lifestyle Images by year end. I can't wait to unveil it all!

I am also getting ready to head west. Seattle, here I come. The only times I have been west of the Mississippi River in my whole life are:

• Hot Springs, AR for a weekend 14 years ago
• Dallas, TX for a business meeting 10 years ago
• Honolulu, HI last year to get my daughter settled at college

So I am totally psyched about seeing Washington State. I hope to have lots of great photos to share when I get back!

In the meantime, I have lots of work projects to wrap up, and deadlines to meet, so I better get back to it.

For now I will leave you with this cutie--isn't he just adorable? He was so happy and easy to photograph. A real pleasure.