It’s time for this month’s Life Story.  I’m so impressed with myself that I haven’t missed one month of this monthly project!  Excuse me while I take a moment to pat my own back.

And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN???

Sheesh.

Oh,  sorry….  Let me get you up to speed. Here’s a little blurb about what I’m up to:

Ever see a photographer who starts out with a 365 day project, or even a 52 week project and never finishes? Yeah, me too.  Well, I  joined a group of a few other busy photographers who decided to commit to a 12 month project! Wish us luck!

The best part is that it will be totally candid, lifestyle shots of each of our own families/lives.  This is a challenge for us to capture our every day worlds and hopefully make us and everyone aware that our “ordinary” is actually “extraordinary.”  We’re calling the series “The Story of ________” and we’ll each be filling in our own blanks. At the end of this post is a link to another photographer who participated and she’ll be linking to someone else. It’s a whole big circle of stories in pictures. Click through and enjoy!

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We’ve had kids for 9 years.  My husband grew up in the Bay Area, and amazingly, I am the only one in our family who had ever been to Muir Woods.  How did that even happen?  What is WRONG with us???  We clearly needed to rectify this situation, so off we went.

Little did we know that we had just so happened to visit Muir Woods on International Migratory Bird Day.  I know… I know…. how did we not even know it was International Migratory Bird Day???  So embarrassing….

We learned more about birds, the kids discovered that birds have wicked wing spans, and, most importantly, we made woodpecker masks.  Thank you Mr. Ranger Guy for helping them make those masks.  They made this day super extra magical for me.

They LOVED their masks and wore them the majority of the day.  And seriously, it was just one of those magical things to me.  I love color.  I love quirky.  I love my kids.  And ya know, I find that I am even more fond of woodpeckers.  Especially red crested woodpeckers with crossed eyes.

These are the cutest woodpeckers you have ever seen, aren’t they?  I know.  I know!  Totally adorable.

We were sort of expecting it to be warm, but it wasn’t.  The rest of us smarties packed a jacket, but the hubs didn’t have anything.  We DID however, have a pink and white striped towel in the car that not only provided warmth, but clearly, is a huge fashion statement.  And the hubs just OWNED it.  Work it, baby. Work it.

Trees are cool.  See all those light green leaves?  Those are the new growth for this year. Every year, a Redwood tree grows a new leaf, and so you can count back from the front of the branch to see how old the branch is.  See how all the knowledge I collected in my years as a camp counselor is paying off?  And of course, trees also have a new growth ring every year.  I dig trees.

Hello…. My name is Laura.  And I’m a sucker for sunflare.

This red crested woodpecker was having a really good time.

And this woodpecker appears to be stalking its prey….

My husband always creates the best games for the kids.  His creativity in play always impresses me!  This one was simple enough…. pick a leaf, and on the count of three, drop it in the creek, and see which leaf gets to the chosen destination first. I think my daughter won this one.  She loves daddy’s games.

But I’m pretty sure my son won this one.  He’s so intense.  I love that.

And then he looked over at me… and for just a moment, the world stood still.  I love that man.

The kids spotted a heron in the creek.  It was pretty cool to watch.  It was hunting for fish and just continued down the creek for quite some time.  Beautiful bird.

And maybe I’m alone here, but does anyone else think that E.T. should phone home?  I want some Reeses Pieces.

Shooting at Muir Woods was tough.  It was crowded.  For the most part, there are other people in your shot if you are going for anything environmental. But in a rare moment, the path was clear, and in an even rarer moment, my daughter assumed this pose.  My little tree fairy.  I love this shot.

We had to stop at the gift shop where they both chose this 5 in 1 tool.  It’s a compass, a thermometer, a small container, a magnifying glass, and a whistle.  And yes, since you asked, the whistle DOES get annoying when you are driving home and trapped in a car.

And also, if you’re wondering.  Yes, yes… he DID eat a brownie, and no… he didn’t use a napkin.

I can SEE you!

So, there you have it.  Our story of our trip to Muir Woods.  We had a great time and were just a little bit sad to leave.

IIf you like what you see, you can always follow me on FACEBOOK.

Next up on this Life Stories train is THE Danielle Frank!  I am in love with all of her Life Stories, so you are not gonna want to miss it.  At the end of her story will be another link to another Life Story.  Follow the links and see a whole pile of amazing Life Stories that will eventually end you up right back here.  So sit down, get comfy, and ENJOY.…

It’s been a busy month for me.  As the deadline for this month’s Life Story began encroaching upon me, I had to make a decision: spend a ton of time shooting and then editing pictures of my children playing OR spend that time just playing with my children.

I chose the latter.

As a photographer, I see it as my job to document their lives.  And believe me, they are WELL documented.  And in my endeavor to tell the perfect story, capture the perfect image of the perfect moment that just so happens to be captured in the perfect light with the perfect clothing, I sometimes lose sight of the simple fact that my children want to spend time with me.

And while I love doing these Life Stories and hope to have the time to do a “real” one next month, this month, I just didn’t want to take the time to tell the full story of anything.

I just wanted to spend time with my kids.

And so I did.

So, what I’m sharing here is just some of the pictures I captured this month.  Not a full story of any one event… but just snippets of our month.

We biked.

We waited for friends to arrive.We went to the library and read book after book after book.

I found my daughter immersed in cat books.

We swung.

We played in the sun.

We went to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

We hunted for eggs, played with cousins, and laughed with family.

We ducked.

We played tennis…

…it was hot.

And we hugged.  And we loved.  And we laughed.

So, there you have it.   I suppose it IS a life story of sorts.  The story of our month.

If you are not familiar with this whole Life Story thing, well, I hate to say it, but you’ve been missing out.  It’s basically a blog circle…start here, and follow the links at the end of each blog post to continue the circle!  You can get a full description of what it’s all about right HERE.  And if you want to see some of the other ones, you can go over there yonder to the left, click on the Categories tab, and then click on Life Stories.  It’s been a fun project for me this year, and I’m happy to be part of such a wonderful group of photographers who are participating in this with me!

Speaking of wonderful photographers, up next is Audrey Frantz of Kentiga Photography!  Follow all the links at the end of the post until you end up back here!  Thanks for visiting!

You can follow me on Facebook right HERE.

 …

Traditions build memories.  Every year, when you do the same thing, it helps strengthen a memory.  I don’t remember lots of details from my childhood.  I don’t remember what I got for Christmas when I was six.  I don’t remember which ornaments I hung where or if my presents were wrapped in red or blue or white. But what I do remember from my childhood is we did things together as a family.  We went to Christmas tree farms and cut down trees.   We had hot apple cider with oranges and cinnamon sticks floating in it.  We crawled through a Christmas tunnel every year… a tunnel that brought us to our Christmas tree with presents underneath.

I remember these things because they were our traditions.  We did it every year.  That repetition makes memories stick.

I want sticky memories for my own children.  So, every Christmas, we go and cut down a tree. We go out to lunch, get treats, and we cut down that tree.

This year, we changed things up by going to a different place.  We found ourselves in Half Moon Bay at our favorite restaurant, The Flying Fish Grill.

My goal was to be as unobtrusive with the camera as I could, which is kinda sorta hard to do when you are taking pictures in a restaurant with your big ol’ camera.  But I tried.  Minimal direction from me…. just watching my family interact.

My goodness, look at my son’s and husband’s lips.  They look so much alike.

I love watching my husband play with our kids.  He does so many things just to make them laugh.  Here, they were adding all sorts of weird stuff to his water and then he would drink it.  As you can plainly see, Daddy is hilarious.

My loves….

Daddy love is awesome love.

And then off for treats.  Seriously.  This cookie was enormous.  And my daughter is part monkey.  She is always climbing.

And finally… to the Christmas tree farm.

It wasn’t long before we realized, these trees were seriously UGLY.

Look at this one.  It was missing a whole section in the middle of the tree.

My daughter was less than thrilled about the choices of trees.

My son didn’t seem to mind.

The dude is slightly insane.  And no, I didn’t ask him to pose.  He does this all by himself.  haha.

He’s so cute.

But c’mon…  Look in the background at the choices.  I’m telling you.  Pickings were SLIM. Good thing my cute daughter added some beauty to the place.

As the search went on…and on… crazy started to set in.

And daddy made an executive decision.

“We’re getting this tree.”

I was too tired to argue.

My boy hurt his knee but quickly recovered so he could watch his daddy cut down that tree.

But how would we get that tree onto the car?

Daddy lifted the tree.

By himself.

Cuz he’s wicked strong.

See?  Look how strong he is.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!  Sorry.  This was taken earlier in the year, but I just wanted to show him off.

OK, back to the regularly scheduled program….

My son

My daughter

My family

I’m a lucky girl to get to build these traditions with this bunch.

And if you don’t know what this whole Life Stories is about, you’re about to be in for a treat.  Click on this link right HERE to see another amazing photographer, Claire Hunter.  She’s participating in this big ol’ circle of Life Stories.  You can see her amazing pictures, and she’ll link you to another amazing photographer.  If you keep on going through the circle, you’ll find your way right back here.  I’m doing this all year.  If you missed my last Life Story, you can see it right here and here.  And you can follow my work on Facebook.  Thanks for looking!…