-yes pleeeeeeease!

we had such a blast this weekend with the graziosis.  work and play.  play and work.  it's all the same.

only jonelle can rock a white onesie.

look at my men.  i'm such a lucky girl.

Breana in her super suit.

-another reason to love arizona

a couple of years ago i wrote this mental letter to the lovely state i live in:

dear arizona,

thanks for being so rad. i love taking my kids to the zoo weekly 8 months of the year and to the children's museum the other 4. i love running the trails of south mountain because you, more than any other state, have the most spectacular sun rises.

i love your perfectly clean streets/highways/parking lots that are free from snow and salt damage. i love the monsoons and haboobies, when they're not turning my inner courtyard into a swimming pool which eventually floods my abode.

i love the suns, the cardinals, the sundevils and the diamondbacks.

i really love p. croissants, smeeks, my neighbor audrey, last chance, that field down the street that gives me the perfect sunlight for pictures, potato barn, los taquitos and the trees full of birds on mill avenue.

just thought it was time to express my gratitude.

xox-
arizona lewis

ps- if you got an aquarium someday, my life would be complete.

WELL- WHADDAYAKNOW??!!!!

also- a great excuse to buy a low light lens because this place is flash free.

-a life changing moment

i was deeply honored to have had the privilege to attend and shoot the memorial service of one of my sweetest friend's father.
the distraction of photography gave me a completely different view of this tender event.
the things that were said about mark made me want to be a better person and live life as fully as possible. thanks girls for allowing me to capture these images.

-so that happened

i shot my first wedding.
way too many pictures to post here or on my photoblog.
you can see the collection on jose's site.
click here for the loveliness.

boop boop bi doo

welcome to the best photo morning of my life!!
it was a pin up themed bridal shower and i really loved every second of it.

-come back!!

we miss you mom.
thanks for being my little men's favorite person on the planet.
and thanks for being mine too.

ps- next time you're down and wanna buy a fun toy for the fam, why stop at a tool set with only 100 pieces? let's go for the one with at least 350. that way my entire house will be scattered with bits of ikea.
pps- it's their favorite toy of all time.
ppps- it figures.

-splash. pedal. stride.

he's amazing.
dave did his first tri and did it well.
congrats on consistently being rad.

dave and mike kowalski

look who was in town to show her support.....momma mccain!
dave, carol and arizona lewis

matty kowalski

mike, a man and his outty and dave

bottom right corner DTMK (dan the man kowalski)

now that it's all over, i have one question for you:
do you think you're better than me?

-soccer mom. minus the soccer

what am i doing?

long since the days of leisure parenting.
ever since i found out i was pregnant with brooks, i've day dreamed about days full of soccer mom activities, orange wedges and celebration trips to DQ.

so i dove in this spring. head first.

we're enrolled in an animal movement class, swimming lessons, lil dribblers basketball, literacy art classes and preschool camps galore. the idea was to keep the boys busy, introduce them to new friends, get physical and away from the tv and hopefully learn a thing or two.

not so much.

i think they're having a good time but it's hard to tell when all i see is:
-brooks pouting on the baseline during basketball and allowing the bounce pass to nail him in the chest because he refuses to participate and put his hands out.
-ade spending more time with the step stool and water fountain during the animal class because no matter how entertaining the lispy instructor is with her fierce CT every time she stands up from a frog jump- quenching his thirst is top priority.
-both of my boys staring at an 80 year old's set of saggy melons in the Y locker room after an intense lesson of swim (aka sitting on the steps and crying every time the lifeguard tried to engage, encourage or just flat out force the 3 year old to put his face in the water)
-what the heck is literacy art class? we've missed 4 weeks in a row because i can't seem to get out of the house on time. sounds amazing though.

maybe i'm overdoing it.
maybe they're too young for all the extra stuff outside of their comfort haven.
maybe they've learned the greatest lesson of all:
when mom says your name through clenched teeth, you'd better climb through that dumb tube and act like a bear before she rips your arm out of it's socket by a long limb drag down the hall and out to the car.

:D

-carol is the coolest

5 simple things i learned from my mom:
-nothing smells better than rain
-the best part about christmas is the lights
-a party's never a party without ruffles, onion dip and peanut m&m's
-head/back tickles are the best way to show your man you love him
and
-to always be happy for other people's successes

thanks carol.
i love you very much.

and here's my reason to celebrate today:

this is his new pose for pictures. i say go with it.

i love my life.

-the beginning

a long, long time ago i saw this picture:
it made me want to be a photographer.
i never really knew the girls in the photo because they were just friends of a friend but i'd always thought about how cute they were and how much fun they looked like they were having in this and every other picture of them together.
so- 7 years after seeing this picture, imagine what a universe tilting experience it was when catlin, the blond, randomly emailed me and asked me to take graduation pictures of her and her friend tiffani.

they claimed to stalk my blog.
i claimed to stalk their existence.
who's creepier now?

to see a more reasons why i love them, click here

-whooooooooooooa

this picture wants to be sideways.
no many how many times i format it.
stupid.
i'm a little overwhelmed with photography.
but it's a good thing.
except for the fact that i stopped drinking diet pepsi last week.
stupid.

lots of loveliness to be posted here.
if i can find a way to survive happily without my bubbly, caffeinated, ex best friend.
stupid.