A Day in the Central Valley

The VanderPoel family graciously invited us to a weekend full of events at their house.

Jerome turned 13, Matthew graduated from high school, Anthony recieved his First Holy Communion.

Wow, a whole lotta fun stuff in one fell swoop.

Dylan was at the state track meet so Rich and I made a quick buzz down to celebrate with our godsons (Matthew and Anthony).

Collin came over from Sacramento after he got off work on Saturday and stayed with us at the hotel Saturday night... an extra bonus :).

Rich's mom workin it in Hank & Theresa's awesome kitchen. How cool is that? Totally worth all the hassle of the remodel.


John Paul made sure he was in charge of the little frosting packets for the cinnamon rolls. Hey somebody's gotta do it.


Rich got a game of hacky-balloon going. He never passes up an opportunity to not be sitting around. And back behind that blurred hunk of action is the graduate, Matthew, and an amused Collin.


I just love this kid. I swear, I have the best kids ever. He is totally rockin the fleet certification program at UTI... 4.0...Student of the Course many times over...excited to be learning new things. We are so proud.

Talkin with great-grandma


My little friend Philip. He didn't get all funny when I pulled out the Nikon. Didn't fuss or try to pose. It was such a gift when I spotted the nice light coming thru this window that he just checked me out and waited patiently for me to get it right.

Confession time: I have to say that the low light situation here made me once again pine for the 85mm f1.4... or even f1.8 that I had almost convinced myself I didn't really need. I so prefer shooting with natural light. I think I might be a flashaphobe.

Aunt Ag, Anthony, Victoria,& Samuel in a serious card game.