By the way, I’ve been thinking about setting a gallery of limited run fine art prints. Any interest?

Although she’s had a difficult life so far we can’t say enough good things about the work that Janet & the Kansas City Great Dane Rescueare doing with these dogs. They were wonderful every step of the way through the adoption and really care about their animals. If you’re interested in adding a Dane to your family you absolutely should check them out.

There are more pics on my Facebook page if you’re interested. Be sure to stop by and say hi to her soon!

The course left a little to be desired. I literally think they got a discount for putting in similar holes throughout the course - maybe it was a bulk deal. The “water” traps on this course were just blue astroturf and there was not a windmill to be seen. 

My mom is notoriously bad at miniature golf but she has a lot of fun playing.

I used have quite the short game but my talents have withered. Apparently I can still putt while holding a purse though.

Aaron has great mini golf form – that he demonstrates here.

No hole in one and I certainly didn’t get the best score (Aaron – first, mom – second, me – last) this is just how I roll – a winner in my own mind and goof in front of the camera.

At this particular wedding we found ourselves resting on the steps of the Loose Mansion and Aaron’s camera was pointed straight at my face. A few clicks later and we were thoroughly entertained.  

To any prospective wedding clients — I can provide references who can attest to the fact that I have not scared away any guests … yet.

Left: My impression of our dog — wary but watching. Middle: Kind of reminds me of Popeye. Right: Who knows.

Left: About to dig for gold … not really people, come on! Middle: Tonge rolling champion 2008. Right: My impression of one of Aaron’s favorite poses from the season. If he’s done it to you, you know just what I’m talking about.

And then I got cake …

That just happened.

 If you’ve been to our house you know we have a dog. She either barked at you from a room down the hall (if you were here for a consultation) or she barked at you in person and probably jumped on you. She’s never made an appearance on the blog and that needs to change! She’s really my baby but Aaron let’s her live here. Part cuteness, part crazy — she can be quite a handful. Oh and she’s completely spoiled — lots of beds and toys. Occasionally she manages to tear one of her toys apart. This was an artful example we came upon one day. We named it “ode to a dead giraffe”  :)

Sometimes we find toys that are more entertaining for us than her. After a trip to Dave and Buster’s with my parents, we used our tickets to buy some fun plush toys. The monkey with velcro feet doubled as a nice accessory…  If you can’t tell from the expression, she’s not happy with us. 

Eventually she came to like her new “clothes”. Here she is getting some love from my mom. 

 Happy Halloween! — Yeah I know it’s late. I spent my Halloween with my Little Sister from Big Brothers Big Sisters. The organization always throws a great Halloween bash complete with pumpkin decorating contest. After an unfortunate incident last year when our attempt at a Bratz pumpkin looked more like a hooker or a blow up doll — I decided to play it safe with a mummy pumpkin. I heart crafts!

 Yeah I didn’t dress up. I just couldn’t think of anything to go with Jamela’s doctor outfit. I was so NOT going to wear a paper hospital gown. Here we’re posing with some friends — Kelly and her little Elisha. Elisha is trying to look cool — I promise she’s not pissed. And Kelly hasn’t actually been drinking …

 On to Thanksgiving — after much stress over my first turkey I managed to pull off a great meal for the whole fam. Here’s a random shot of Aaron’s Grandma E.

  So we work a lot — you might already know that. Occasionally we take a vacation and last year we treated ourselves to an 11-day Caribbean cruise. We had a great time and posted some better pictures you can see here. The point and shoot turned up one gem – a champagne fountain from one of the formal nights. The idea is that women line up and take turns pouring champagne down the glasses.

 And now a belated birthday party post. Several friends joined us at the ONLY restaurant we like in Blue Springs — a delicious Chinese restaurant that cooks your food to order. We had a great time and apparently took some pictures!

 Tim is Aaron’s longtime best friend. Amy is Tim’s (then pregnant) wife whom Aaron had a good time snapping random pictures of. Seriously we had a flip book. This was Aaron’s choice — so Amy don’t blame me! I particularly love Tim’s expression — he thinks it’s hilarious when Aaron messes with Amy.

 Rust and Claire — one of the cutest, most endearing couples you will meet. We don’t get to see them much so were really happy that they could join us.

 OK now we’re back up to July. That was a long trip! Kelly and Jason (you may remember their awesome e-session and wedding pics) are clients turned friends and we couldn’t be happier! We met in Westport for some July 3rd hanging out. After dinner at McCoys we headed to Ernie Biggs Piano Bar.

A camera war between Jason and Aaron.

 We don’t actually know this girl, but it’s a good picture of the stage.

For the last three days I was lucky enough to get to fly out to San Diego and experience the super amazing Nate & Jacklyn Kasier of The Image is Found and their infamous Shootshops. All I can say is wow! These guys are awesome and really know what they’re doing.

Basically we got to hook up with 14 other great photographers from all around the country and spend a day at Nate & Jacklyn’s own studio. As I’m sure you know wedding photography tends to get a little repetitive and stuffy for a lot of people. These guys just know how to shake it up! For them it’s all about doing what they love and making honest, fun images of great couples (sound familiar… I hope so). They simply show everyone the way it’s done.

It was a fabulous experience and I can’t wait to start applying some of what I learned to what we already do. Watch out cause things-are-a-changin around HPD and we’re out to keep blowin you away.

Michael from Michael Andrew Photography was blazing away with pictures the whole time and made this slideshow of the whole experience. Be sure to check it out and see how much fun we had. I’m in there sometimes but you know me… I hide from the camera.

Shootshop Slideshow 

Heather and I have had the extreme privilege of getting to know these guys over the last few months and are truly honored to have become friends with such wonderful people. This business can be pretty cut throat and it’s such a release to spend time with people that understand that.

This weekend we had the opportunity to go out and have some shooting fun with both couples (yes, pictures of us exist out there too). They were amazingly easy to photograph and we’re just happy that we could give them some great images of themselves. Ashley was stunning in that amazing dress and Jeremy simply glows around her.

In honor of Ashley this is also my first post of textured images. It is a technique that I’ve been struggling on whether to embrace and she has slowly convinced me how wonderful it can be. Watch out! Now that I’ve opened that can of worms I’m sure there will be plenty more to come, it just fits our style

Thank you guys for being such wonderful friends. Keep up the wonderful work, the sky is the limit!