Two Photographers as parents… how annoying. As of right now she thinks the camera is pretty cool. Probably wont always feel that way but Im sure when she gets older she’ll appreciate all the stalking we do.
New Years Eve [changes]
So as you get older and start having a family your New Years Eves begin to change… last year we got out and did stuff, this year Jess was pregnant once again. So no drinking and she was feeling tired, harder to hit the midnight mark [but she did it] This year we decided to hang local. The parents got a new camper trailer and wanted to take it out. They last minute landed a cool spot at Vail Lake so we decided to cruise out and hang out with them. Hung around the site, BBQ’d a bit, then later went down to check out the scene at the clubhouse there. [Didnt bring the camera to that part cause I didnt wanna be drinking and responsible for all that but I believe I snapped a few pics n vids on my phone] They had a Casino night going on [cleaned up at the Roulette wheel] and I turned $200 in fake $$ into $1200 fake $$ which redeemed for raffle tix to a drawing that I didnt win… but had a great time + also got to enjoy the sweetest Johnny Cash cover band – Cashed Out. No idea those guys were gonna be there, so that was cool surprise.. The last time I saw those guys was at Tilted Kilt for my friends birthday… thats a whole different story there though,. Anyhow, Cashed Out rocked a solid 3 hour set and did the countdown at midnight, it was awesome.
Once again no Ryan Seacrest [think thats 4 years in a row now, thank god] and once again no hangover! stuck to a lot of hard alcohol [on the rocks, no mix] and that has been my secret… that and drinking about a gallon of water before bed with 1000mg advil. heh.
Neglect Neglect Neglect
Oh you poor personal blog. left by the wayside, forgotten… and why? cause Ive been soooo busy updating the wedding blog? Kinda. but more because this time of year is CRAZY. I barely made it through Christmas, but I did. And ALL of our brides got their photos back in time for the holidays so show to family and friends! Huge accomplishment and I busted out many late nights to do it.
Soooooo if there is a new years resolution to be had it is to keep up on this personal blog. Im doing stuff daily and starting up a new photo project. May need to back log it cause by the time it gets really going a week will have gone by. When I say “keep up” the personal blog I think I need to put a rather large stipulation up. DAILY blogging in some way, shape or form. Sure twitter is micro blogging but it easily gets buried and I want to be able to look back on 2012 and easily connect the dots. So this is the forum. oh man, I may regret typing that just now [daily blogging]
XMAS Day
The Holidays are fun, no doubt. Its all about the kids in my mind. Lets not do the gift thing amongst cousins and uncles anymore…Im 30, theres no need for that. I buy you a gift card only to get one back in return? its fine really. Maybe next year it’ll just be thoughtful cards or something, who knows? The older I get the clearer it gets though. I mean Im always going to try to get the thoughtful gifts for the parents n immediate fam. but… all the extended stuff can get out of hand. We started doing the gift exchange a few years back. Thats always fun. Draw numbers, stealing gifts,.. we are still trying to figure out our family rules. Maybe next year we;ll have it all sorted out. This year I scored a Ukelele, Jess got ?? Huhhh, I think she actually ended up stealing a gift and getting her initial gift back? I dont think that should be allowed though… so we are going to be making yet more changes to the rules next year.
Its getting more complicated now that we have Avalon. Everyone wants to see her. Typically XMAS Eve we spend with my family, it continues on in the early hours of the AM by the fire with cocktails, later in the AM do the presents thing with the kids. After that we head out to do XMAS day + dinner with Jessicas family. We are kinda still getting adjusted to the running around. Maybe next year we’ll do stuff at our house? With 2 kids it’ll probably be a lot easier to wake up and do everything at home and then make stops at all the grandparents houses after. Still new at all this.
Christmas Eve with the fam
Christmas Eve we all get together at my parents house in Menifee, not sure exactly when this started but its been a while. When we were kids it was always at our grandparents house out in OC. Maybe it changed after they moved to Lake Isabella then? cause a 4 hour drive north is quite a trek. Either way its been going on a while now and its always a lot of fun. The flow of the night tend to vary depending on who shows up, ya know? dynamics of the group. In the years past we would play Rock Band and the girls would sing, I was all time drummer [with my cuz Dave pushin me off every now and again] and my brother Doug on guitar with our Dad swapping bass n guitar. That was lots of fun. Lots of other games would follow and once everyone else went to be it was a campfire or poker with the guys till the last one crashed out. This year we played a couple games but mostly just hung out, had a few drinks and chatted with each other.
As we get older people are added in to the mix or subtracted out, depending on schedules. This is the first year that my cuz Dave hasnt made it. He is now a male nurse 😉 and low man on the totem pole having to work the dirty holiday shifts nobody else wants to take. Proud of him though and hopefully a couple years from now he will have the seniority to toss some other newbie into the fire. Here are a bunch of snaps from that night.
