A few weeks ago I had a little free time so I decided to tackle some projects that had been placed on the back burner.  It might be my nesting instincts coming out, but whatever it was, it was great to get a few non-photography related jobs done around the house.

These were my projects:

1)    Sewing the bottoms on the dining room curtains…IKEA, I love you but why do your curtains come 75,000  inches longer than the window? 

2)    Make a sock monkey for Shooter.   For those of you who don’t know,  I refer to my unborn baby as Shooter as we have yet to pick a name. Since he was at over half of my weddings last year I felt it fitting.

3)    Sew a little tie onto a onesie for Shooter to attend Uncle Josh and Aunt Amy’s wedding in April.   I gave it a shot but this project is still in the works, and could very possibly end in Shooter not having a onesie with a tie on it for the wedding.  Lets just say not all projects seen on Etsy can be duplicated!

So here I am about 4 weeks later and my dining room curtains are finally looking  like they should instead of the bottoms hanging in a huge pile at the floor collecting dust and dog hair. Shooters sock monkey is complete and has a charm to it that’s a little hard to explain (I posted a picture below so see for yourself). I am sure Martha Stewart and/or the original sock monkey creator would gasp at the crudeness of my sewing skills and any or all of the monkey’s appendages I so painstakingly sewed on will probably come off the first time he’s played with, but I did it!  I sewed my son a stuffed monkey out of a pair of socks!   Mr. Monkey is currently and patiently awaiting Shooter’s arrival on his bookshelf along with a pair of  super cute converse from his daddy! I’m going to have to go back to the drawing board for the onesie/tie project, but if all else fails, Corey said he’d draw a tie on with permenant marker

As promised, here are a few shots of Mr. Oliver (Ollie for short!) Lawrence Griggs at just 6 days old. He came into the world at 20 inches long, weighing just under 8 lbs, with an amazing full head of hair! His arrival came a little earlier than anticipated, but Mom and Dad were thrilled nonetheless.

I’ve been blessed to get to photograph Josie on a regular basis and it’s been an absolute blast watching her grow up over the last year. Josie and her Mom came by the studio recently with her big bouncy horse, wooden trains, and an adorable homemade tutu.  She’s one of the happiest one year olds I know of and the session went flawlessly. I can guarantee that the sparkle in those big dark eyes of hers is going to drive the boys crazy in not too long!  Here are a few of my favorites: 

Let’s just say that it was a good thing that we did Jeff and Jen’s maternity session when we did, because less than a week after the shoot, she was in the hospital delivering her brand new little boy (a seperate post on him coming later). As you can see, Jen is officially one of the cutest pregnant women on record and I was amazed at her good mood and mobility at 8 1/2 months pregnant as we walked (or waddled) around a chilly and wet downtown Oregon City. Jeff was a little crestfallen when we got out of the car and Jen vetoed the 1970’s corduroy jacket that he had brought along for pictures. It didn’t take  long, however, for him to return to true form and keep us all chuckling in between clicks. The grand finale of the session came up on the railroad tracks. The passenger train came around the corner just as I was getting ready to put my camera away. We scurried off the tracks and I got them posed just in time to get the Amtrak cars speeding by in a blur behind them.

Jeff and Jen are going to make an amazing set of parents, and their new little man has been blessed beyond words to have them. I’ve posted a few of my favorites below. Baby pictures coming soon!

Well, the wet Oregon weather has created the need for some major improvisation lately, as its been too wet to shoot at my typical favorite locations.  To be honest, however, I really don’t think it would have mattered where I took Corey and Aaron last week for their engagement pictures because the camera simply adores them. 

Corey and Aaron met eachother in Australia, working in the land down-under for YWAM (Youth With a Mission). I absolutely love far away, romantic meeting stories like theirs. They’re planning on a Spring 2010 wedding, but because Corey is from Canada they’ve got to wait on their fiance visa paperwork to go through before she can stay long-term. Talk about anxiety! I would go absolutely crazy having to wait for the government to do something before I could plan my wedding. 

Here are some of my favorites from the day, a little wet out, but fun and portland-funky nevertheless!

I’m very pleased to introduce to you, Mr. Kade Michael Konrad.  Kari and John just recently welcomed this little guy into the world with wide open arms. He was born Jan 12th, weighing in at just 6 lb. 11 oz. but 21 inches tall! Kari and John were both college runners and it seems little Kade is already well on his way to to his own tall and lean athletic body.

Kari and John are great friends of ours (they’ve even modeled for me in the past), and it’s been a blast being around Kari during her pregnancy and watching them both get ready for Kade. I can’t imagine a more fun set of parents, and I’m thrilled that our sons will get to grow up knowing eachother! Here are a few from his studio session at just 7 days old.