Ho ho ho!

I want to get the boys instant cameras for Christmas.

What do YOU think?

This guy from Fuji?

the film is like .75 a pic. ouch!!, but the cam is cheaper

OR

This guy from Polaroid?

the cam is more expensive, but the photo paper is .03 an image.

oy oy oy.
decisions are the worst.

Eddie Aikau.

We hung out at the Eddie all day yesterday.
You haven't lived until you've seen big wave surfing at Waimea.

HOLY FRICKIN' SMOKES.

**and since Raleigh doesn't read my blog,
I'll scold myself for him:
"mom! don't say frickin'!"

The kids were on the live feed of the contest, again.
No one can resist all these little blond groms. . .
because they're so GORGEOUS,
just like their mother naturally. ;)

They also got to see surf legend Kelly Slater
up close and personal.
They may have been more excited to see him than Santa.
Actually, no, not at all really.
They were surprisingly underwhelmed truth be told.
Richie on the other hand??
Stoked out of his mind.

Oh and Andy,
sorry we didn't know it was your birthday,
or we would have sang you a ditty.
Y'all should know that bff Andy surfed Waimea the day before the Eddie.
Apparently the waves were even bigger,
yeah that and Andy has a death wish.

a penny for your hairy little thoughts

help my hair here.

shelly norton the photographer

Photo by Richie's Momma, Shelly.

Here's a little story that doesn't start with once upon a time because
I've always loved photography.
Since I was a kid.
It was a biological inclination.
My Dad loved it. . .
and since I was genetically engineered to be exactly like him,
I loved it too.
Then along came Shelly
and she made me love it in a whole new way.
Shell has a natural talent for photojournalism
that is just, well, remarkable,
and an amazing eye for nature work
(evidenced above)
that she obviously passed on to her daughter Heather.
I love photography.
I love Shelly.

the end.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Above photos by me.

above by Richie! Click to enlarge!
and ps. the one on the let just might be my favorite of all time.

the eyes of a child.

Apparently I'm going into the business of
selling motivational posters to pediatric offices. . . ??

couldn't resist.

beautiful beautiful hope filled eyes.

and speaking of hope.

did you know that one of the definitions of hope is
"to expect with confidence"?

do you live your life with the expectation that things will go your way?
do you expect that God is on your side?
do you expect that everything that happens in your life
is for your ultimate good?

I sure do hope so.
pun intended.

Sleepng Like a Baby.

"Sleeping like a baby" as in what?
Squirming and grunting and squeeling all night?

Just wondering.

Love you anyway. :)

Dear Ones,

I'm sorry I'm such a cracker jack blogger lately. Babies and stuff, y'know?

click to enlarge, you've gotta get a look at those plump lips and squishy cheeks. . . oh!

FOR THE RECORD: all of you who said to me "Natalie, after 3 it doesn't matter how many kids you have! 3 is the hardest! bla bla bla" you are all grounded for a week, because that is a tub of poo! 4 is WAY more than 3. End.of.story. Rach, you get a gold star for being the only one to offer any kind of warning.

All joking aside, I am happier than I've ever been in.my.entire.life. Being a mother is such a treasured gift. The joy this little Gavin has brought into our home is so far beyond the realm of description it's unbelievable. Seeing the circle of life come to fruition is breathtaking. It's miraculous. Most of all it's humbling.

So thank you for being patient while I take some time to enjoy these precious days with my family.

Love ya lots!

N

Gavin.

tie a string around your finger.

Dear Utah,

Tie a string around your finger
so you're certain to remember this awesome event:

Robertson Family: Oahu Lifestyle Photographer.

Another mini shoot for friends from the playgroup. Love this fun family. Enjoy!

Jorgensen Family: Hawaii Family Photographer.

I love the Jorgensen family. They're bright, they're happy, they're sassy (at least the Mrs. . . ), they're my cup of tea. I'm not gonna lie though folks, this was one of the most challenging shoots of my career. It was DARK DARK DARK when we started shooting. The light dropped so fast that my auto focus was even struggling catching my focal point so I was forced into manual focus a few times. . . try that with active kiddos. Sheesh! We had a blast nonetheless and got some awesome memories for this AWESOME family! Enjoy.

















This is the first in a series of mini shoots I did for friends of mine from our local playgroup. Each shoot was appx 20 min (usually a little less).

when you share you get more.

"I broke my binoculars in half and now we each have a telescope!"
Raleigh, you are joy.

My brother painted this awesome dude on a piece of scratch paper when he was a teenager.
We affectionately call him the acorn man.
Stolen from mom.

ya ya. . . martha would have ironed.

Lincoln and I did a fun little project for the new baby the other day.
Sorry I didn't iron these to make them look more fancy for y'all.

I must say, I do love me a white onesie.

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

I've reached my capacity for storage!!
Bought new, but it hasn't been activated by blogger yet . . .

alas, all my good blogging intentions . . . FOILED!!!

MJ's biggest fan.

OK. So I totally tweeted this (follow me there) over the last while, but since I'm swamped and not blogging I thought I'd journal it here for your daily dose of Halloween hilarity.

• a few weeks ago, Raleigh threw a penny in a fountain. "Wanna to know what I wished? I wished I could be America's next top dancer."
• a week or so ago: Raleigh: "was Michael Jackson America's top dancer?" Me: "no Raleigh, Michael Jackson was the WORLD'S top dancer!" Raleigh: "OK. I'm going to be him for Halloween!"
• last night we're looking over all the versions of MJ to try to decide on a costume and we come to the Michael of the ABC days. Raleigh: "Wait! Michael Jackson used to be BLACK?!!!!!!!"
• today Richie was volunteering in Raleigh's classroom. They were drawing pictures for the masks they're making. Raleigh was making a mask of MJ, which he colored black. The little girl next to him: "Michael Jackson wasn't black!" Raleigh (matter of factly) "Oh, but he used to be."

The end.

Happy Halloween.

Japan.

Japanese tourists LOVE my children. When we hit up Waikiki (which is a rare occasion) we are ALWAYS stopped REPEATEDLY by Japanese tourists, young and old, male and female, for photo ops with my little blond boys.

Picture 1: peace sign (of course) + coin slot.


Picture 2: white people are always perplexed by the entire shenanigan + apparently some people think it's normal to pick up stranger's children :)

Click to enlarge so you don't miss white man's aforementioned confusion.

All joking aside, this is my favorite part of excursions to the strip. True story.

Published: Exquisite Weddings

Exquisite Weddings ran a full 4 pages of images from Jessica and Hunter's San Diego wedding in their Fall 2009 Issue. SO FUN! Thank you Exquisite Weddings and especially Jessica and Hunter for having such a publishable event! :)

Hoffmann Family: Hawaii Portrait Photographer.

The Hoffmanns were the most wonderful clients of all time. Just FYI it was raining, HARD, throughout at least half of this shoot. If you click to enlarge, you can see the rain in some of the images (especially the first dyad) . . . They were SUCH great sports! Enjoy!

Scissor Saturday.

1. Sitting at the computer.
2. Minding my own business.
3. Out of the corner of my eye I see Richie walk to the cabinet and pull out the scissors.
   
4. Not really paying particular attention.
5. Hear something along the lines of, "Come on Cardon, Daddy's going to cut your hair."
   
6. Still, not paying particular attention.
7. Suddenly recognize absurdity of what I've just heard.
8. Tweet said absurdity.
   
9. Cardon walks into the kitchen 5 minutes later.
10. What I see grabs my UNDIVIDED attention . . .

Annnnd. . . this is what you get when your Daddy cuts your hair:

Still handsome as ever. :)
But Rich, don't quit your day job.