Of course, new clothes means we have to have a photo shoot!

I’ve been reading a lot about photography and I really see how a reflector or some kind of fill flash would have helped in the late evening light. Somehow, though, I doubt Jessica will care one way or the other ^_^

When we get together next, Jessica is going to write a thank-you letter to the donor who made our awesome shopping trip possible and to BBBS for being all-around awesome!

My father-in-law, Steve, is the keyboardist/organist.

See more photos of Sock Monkey on my Flickr page.

Partway through the off-and-on stormy day, the power went out!

Luckily, it came back on within a few minutes.

Our day lasted from about 8:45 am to 9:30 pm. That’s a LOT of scrapbooking!

See more photos of Scrapapalooza on my Flickr page.

See more fireworks on my Flickr page.

Not too shabby for a quick snapshot before a conference.

I’ve been super busy at work, but have still made time to work on more birthday gift purses and sneak in one for me – I really like it! Mom helped me pick out the fabrics.

And now for photos of Jessica! The first one is one of my favorite pictures of her, ever.

Also, I recently got to take “my” boys out for birthday ice cream, each by themselves! We went to Coldstone, and both boys, oddly enough, picked bright blue cotton candy ice cream with gummy bears. You’d think they were related, or something.

And last but not least, we have some gorgeous flowers growing in our backyard! They have faded somewhat since I took these, so I’m glad I have them to remember how pretty it will be here every spring.

Aaaaaand that’s it for now. The next group of photos I post  will be of my awesome father-in-law’s band, the Sock Monkeys.

Yes, you read that right.

The Sock Monkeys.

Intrigued? You should be! Check back later for more…

Got a message today that this photo, which I took on my trip to Austin, TX in February, has been nominated for inclusion in a 2010 Austin City Guide. It’s not a paid gig, but I like this photo and I’m willing to share, so I gave permission to include it for consideration. No guarantees, but I will be interested to see if it gets picked!

Jessica and I have been matched through Big Brothers Big Sisters for three years today.

We celebrated yesterday by stuffing our faces at CiCi’s Pizza.

NOM NOM NOM.

Then we invaded our friends’ house, where Jessica and Keegan and Kadence played hide-and-go-seek and tag with various twists. Mainly, this involved running around the house as fast as possible, with the roles of chaser and chasee being exchanged at random. The only rule is, if you “die” (that is, wipe out on the kitchen floor), everyone points and laughs! Then you are “healed” with magic, and it’s back into the fray! Weapons included: a plastic pistol, an empty Dr Pepper liter bottle, a vacuum hose, a pair of shoes, a ball, socks, and a stuffed Hulk toy.

There were capes involved.

The evening ended with a quiet round of “Go Fish”. Kadence is a master of the game, and won all our cards. Twice.

It was much less-planned than our previous match anniversaries have been, but Jessica loved it. Here’s to many more years like the three we’ve already shared!

Big Brothers Big Sisters is pretty awesome about getting us free or discounted tickets to kid-friendly events, and Jessica and I have been making an effort to see as many plays as possible. When BBBS sent out an email that they had tickets to Harold and the Purple Crayon, my inner three-year-old went “SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!” and I promptly reserved our tickets.

My inner three-year-old was not disappointed.

Actually, I wouldn’t take a very small child to see this; the actress (yes, actress) playing Harold and the one playing Harold’s girl friend wore baby-face masks that were downright creepy, and a scary Martian and evil witch add some scary moments. Otherwise, it was very entertaining; there was no dialogue, except for the unseen narrator, so the actors had to express everything through movement. The minimal set design echoes the simplicity of the books, and the projected animations and props were mostly adorable. As an adult, I really appreciated the artistry that the five-person cast brought to the production, which lasted about an hour, and I wouldn’t mind seeing it again.

Obviously, we couldn’t take photos once the production began, but I did take some prior to the play:

Ryan and I are planning a vegetable garden this year, using the square foot gardening method. We want to plant three 4′ x 4′ raised beds, and decided to make boxes with a bottom panel as well, for a number of reasons. Of course, we wanted to do it as economically as possible, so we purchased three 4′ x 8′ panels of 3/4″ plywood and cut into pieces to construct three 4′ x 4′ x 1′ boxes. Ryan’s dad, Steve, helped us put them together in his warehouse. Here are some pictures I took during the epic construction process:

More photos on Flickr.