I shot Michelle and Kevin’s wedding in the fall of ‘08 and I was honored when they asked me to shoot their newborn daughter, Leighton. Kevin decided that a mom and baby photo shoot would make the perfect Mothers Day gift. I could not agree more! Enjoy.
Max is playing on a travel baseball team called 
the Sterling Xplosion. It is a great group of players and as of this writing they are 10-1 this season. Go X!
Max is playing football this fall and his team, The Cougars are 4-1 so far. In his second year on the team Max was named defensive captain. He snaps the ball on offense, handles the kickoffs and plays linebacker on defense. The black and white shot is with his best buddy Wyatt.
Christina and I got away a few weeks ago and visited Ed and Angela in Asheville, North Carolina. Ed is one of my oldest and dearest friends, having known him for nearly forty years. He and Angela moved to Asheville a while ago and we have been wanting to visit them for a while. Its too bad they do not live closer as Christina and Angela hit it off like two long lost sisters.
Asheville is a fantastic town. Set in mountains of Western North Carolina, it features a funky and eclectic downtown full of art galleries and unique restaurants. Christina and I spent hours wandering from shop to shop taking in the scene.
We also spent a day at the Biltmore estate. The largest home in the United States, this palace was built in the late 1890’s by George Vanderbilt. The photos below do not due it justice as it is a majestic castle set on amazing gardens. One picture shows Christina relaxing on a deck, and the next the mountain view. Simply amazing. The Biltmore is a must see while visiting Asheville.
On our drive back home we stayed over night in Charlottesville, VA. Home to the University of Virginia, it has a downtown area about 5 blocks long blocked off to traffic. We spent a warm summer evening strolling along in search of a spot to eat. We picked Himalayan Fusion and sat outside not knowing what to expect. Oh my! The food was out of this world. Operated by a family of émigrés from Nepal, this casual bistro serves a mix of spicy cuisine’s from the Himalayans. We loved it!
P.S. Sorry about the photo quality. They were all shot with my Iphone, except for the first two of Ed and Angela.
Tommy Trouble hooked us up with some AMAZING seats to see the Amazing’s play the Nationals. MB, JA, Tom and I were sitting in the second row directly behind home plate!! We could call balls and strikes for the ump. If you closed your eyes you could tell if the batter got a hit just by the sound of the bat. The Nats got a homer from the Donkey, Adam Dunn and beat the Mets easily. Now that they have signed their first round draft choice, Strasburg, things are looking up. I absolutely love the new Nationals Stadium. They created a wonderful combination of old school stylings with a beautiful modern facility.
Jack and Max were on the Astros together this season. Jack made AAA All Stars and Max made District All Stars. Christina and I did not miss any games and we loved watching them play together.
Jack's pitching style is similar to Greg Madux.
Max about to smack one
Max attempting to steal 3rd as his buddy Will applies the tag
They both look to the ump for a call as the ball pops out of Will's glove
Max adjusting the lid
Jack gets props from Coach after ripping a single
Max always has fun....
Jack at Shortstop
Max has been asked to play on a “travel” baseball team. This is a great honor bestowed on only a handful from his entire Little League. The level of play is much higher, but so is the pressure. The boys are asked to work a little harder and take everything more seriously. So far he seems to be having a great time.
Looking good in the new uniform
Max's pitching style is a combination of Tim Lincecum and Juan Marichal
Maybe some Ichiro influence?
Crushed that one!
Bringing the heat.
Christina and I just got back from skiing in Utah. (Photo 1) One of my oldest friends lives with his wife and two boys in Salt Lake City. I have know Tiger (2) for over 35 years and we grew up skiing together. The tricky part about going on a ski trip across the country is the weather. Is there going to be snow? What is the weather going to be? There is always luck involved. We got REAL LUCKY. It snowed every day for almost two weeks before we got there. They had 12 FEET in 12 days! Our first day was spent at Snowbird skiing the fresh powder in sunshine. (3) Incredible conditions! This is a shot of little L (4) and myself (5) on our first run. This is a shot of some untracked powder (7). Tigers boys (8) are amazing skiers. Even though the snow was up to their chests in some spots they never complained and always had a great attitude. T and L were a blast to ski with! I cannot say enough about how deep the snow was. In this shot Tiger and I were skiing in the trees (9). Just look at the snow on the branches! (10) Snowbird is a fantastic ski area, but it is also unique as one of the only places with a tunnel through the mountain that skiers can use. In this shot (11), Tigers wife Lori and Christina are about to enter the tunnel. The next shots (12, 13) show Christina in the tunnel. Very cool. In this shot Christina demonstrates just how much snow they have! (14) The trip took an unexpected turn Sunday night as I slipped in the bathroom and cut my foot pretty bad (15). Luckily, Lori is a trained Army medic and took real good care of me. Thanks Lori!! But Christina and I decided to play it safe and take a day off from skiing. We went over to Park City (16 , 17, 18) to walk around and grab some lunch. (19) The next day we awoke to more sunshine and rising temperatures. A perfect spring skiing day. We decided to head over to Solitude Ski Area. (20) The only thing that made a 65 degree day with no clouds better is the lack of people. We had the whole place to ourselves as this shot of the parking lot demonstrates (21). Solitude is a fantastic ski area with a wide variety of terrain. Here we are passing through the gates to challenge ourselves. (22, 23 ,24) Here Christina relaxes on Tiger and Lori’s deck after skiing (25). For our last day we headed back to Snowbird and hopped on the tram after a great breakfast at the base lodge (26, 27, 28). We had a very challenging day as most of it was spent skiing in whiteout conditions as another storm rolled in (29). We had a fantastic vacation and cherished the fact that we could spend some quality time with some great friends.