We have had a wonderful trip to see Shaun, our thanksgiving was a very special one. Despite the fact that we weren't with family we were lucky enough to have friends to share the holiday with. We spent it with Shaun's high school friend Kim and her new husband Chris. We had a very good dinner at Chris's cousin's Maria's house. We really enjoyed meeting all of Chris family and being welcomed so warmly. We actually spent the entire weekend with Kim and Chris. We stayed at their home in Portland Maine and drove up to Bangor to visit with Kim's parents and to see Shaun's old hometown. This was a lot of fun seeing all the places Shaun has told me all about. Saturday we drove home from Bangor which took about 5 hours and made Olivia grumpy! But we made it home to go to church in the morning and got to have dinner with the missionaries and two lady's in the ward. We had a wonderful time there and so enjoyed getting to know some people in this area. I am getting sad to leave him here but excited that he will be coming home for christmas so soon! Hope you all have happy holidays!

Grandpa Bailey loves to get Olivia laughing, here they are with Olivia bouncing and Grandpa tickling her back:)

This is another video of Shaun startling and laughing with Olivia. This quickly became a favorite game of theirs. Olivia is just become so much fun. She can't sit still at all! Church is already becoming a fight with her! Shaun has now experienced her wiggles at church, and she is only just turned nine months! She crawls so fast, and is trying to stand on her own. I'm sure walking isn't far away (I can only imagine what fun that will bring to church!)

our trip to Mass

Olivia and I flew up to Mass last week. We have had a wonderful time seeing Shaun. Though we have had our share of misadventures! First off we almost missed our flight, catching it in the nick of time, but unfortunally our bags didn't make the flight and we had to walk around Hartford Conn to pass the time until our bag could land. It was about 5 hours! It was so fun to see Shaun again that we didn't mind. We both thought Hartford looks like a nice place. Shaun had two days of school before his Thanksgiving break. O and I got to experience a laundry mat, which was fun until she got tired of wheeling around in the xl baskets they have. We did get to have lunch in a really neat old paper mill that they converted into a book store and cafe. that is where the pic is from. Also we had lunch at Shaun's school and all of the other students oggled over Olivia. She entertained quite nicely:) We set out one day for a picnic just to find it overcast and rainy, our picnic ended up in the car with O napping.

Olivia gets scared/startled and cracks up

We got home pretty late from our trip and Olivia slept for most of it, so needless to say she was pretty awake for a while after we got back. I (Shaun) was playing with her in her playpen when she should have been going to sleep and started out laughing at my little sounds, but then they evolved to a bit more scary and she would first have a startled look that would turn into hysterical laughter. We were both crying but she fell asleep pretty quick after all that activity! The lights were off and she was being lit by my laptop, so its a bit dark.

This is the game we call So Big! She lifts her arms to up in the air like she is "so Big". This is the first time she was doing it all by herself. She also is starting to wave! She is really getting to big. She is 8months now and I can hardly believe it!

Halloween

1st Halloween! She is a candy corn! We had a great time that day, she played with cousins (here is Taina holding her) and we went to visit the Grandparents and even went to a trunk-r-treat! She had a friend there that was a pirate

Crib Time

This is how Miss Thing wakes up! All smiles and squeals! She really is such a fun baby, who is really happy! This is from an afternoon nap, I can't get to her fast enough in the morning. Every day my Dad beats me to her, he gets her up, fed and has her playing next to him! They are so cute together!!

she's standing

Here is Olivia standing! She crawls like crazy and pulls up and stands next to anything!

More giggles

Here is another video of Olivia laughing! I can't get enough of her giggle! If you see her leaning to the side, it is because she is trying to see around the camera to see me! She is so funny!!

Just in case you didn't know my fun news

First: This is a video that one of our instructors does that is teaching us about photojournalism and the stock photography industry. He puts them on youtube about different stuff we're doing at school. I'm excited because one of my photos made the video! It may not seem like much, but it's really exciting for everyone here when one of the staff recognizes one of your photos. The photo below is the one on the video... it's at the very beginning!! Second:

We finally stepped into the studio!!!!! So the picture below is the first of many pictures that I will be doing in the product studio! French's Fried Onions anyone???

Third:

There's a story and a couple parts to this one, so take a breath.... ok.

There is an instructor here named Gregory Heisler (www.gregoryheisler.com). I didn't know who he was before coming here, but I really know him now!

Anyways, Gregory is an amazing portrait photographer that worked for another amazing photographer that was pretty much huge in the photographic world. His name was Arnold Newman (www.arnoldnewmanarchive.com). One of the assignments given to us by Gregory was kind of in homage to Arnold Newman. Newman had a very distinct way of taking a portrait that has in many aspects died with him. He really pioneered location portraiture. I.E. taking a photo of the president in the Oval Office instead of a studio. Or a pianist with a piano, but in a really radical way. Here are a couple of his shots. And you have to remember these were the 40's and 50's, really different from what was mainstream.

So the assignment was to look at Mr. Newman's stuff and apply it to a portrait of a partner. I took mine of a good friend here named Jon. There was a couple of Newman's photos that stuck out to me which is how I came up with the picture below. To me his images were really "quiet" and very geometrical. And rarely was the person in the middle of the frame.

So for the cool part, Gregory was the keynote speaker at the International Photo Expo in New York City this past weekend and was introducing a fund in honor of Arnold Newman. He spoke about the time he worked with Arnold and showed how some of his work has been indirectly influenced by Newman. At the end of his speech, he showed about 10 photos from our school of the assignment he had us do

AND MINE WAS ONE OF THEM!!!!!! He gave us a breakdown of his speech to us today and showed us the photos he used. I seriously almost cried. Only because these few weeks here have already had their ups and downs. From turning assignments in wrong, to not feeling up to par with some of the other kids here, being away from Kari and Olivia (which believe me, has been the hardest part and if you can ever avoid being away from your family, do it!!) But to have someone like Gregory Heisler recognize one of your photos AND to use it in an internationally recognized expo in a room with so many other huge names in photography, was really nice.

It really made me feel like I didn't make a mistake by coming here and that I really can do my own thing and it be ok.

Laughing

Olivia talking to Shaun

Shaun's girls

Shaun giving goodbye kisses

OUR FAMILY

Here we are in a garden in NC while we were visiting with Cheyney

Olivia smiling at her Daddy

Her is our little chunk shoppping with mom and dad, Shaun found her this hat at H&M This is Olivia flirting with a "Grandpa" at church in Charleston. She loves to get attention from the Gentlemen!

Bailey Family Togetherness

This is how Kari, Olivia, and I are communicating for the next few months, I know it's not much new for Nathan and Ryan, but its nice we can at least have this bit of communication while we're apart.

Shaun

If you want to see what I (Shaun) am up to while I'm all by my lonesome in Mass., I'm keeping a blog for just that. I'm probably going to always have a picture attached with my posts since that is prettymuch life for the next several months.

The page address is http://shaunphotography.blogspot.com/

Of course more Olivia!

This was on our trip to Massachusetts. We stayed with Nathan and Candice in Charleston and we were in the car on our way down and I thought Olivia was looking so cute chewing on her little toy.

Nathan and Candice took us to downtown Charleston which was way cool, but because we had limited space in my little Jetta, we didn't have our stroller with us. So Nathan being the outdoorsy type that he is, had this crazy carrier that worked wonders, Olivia loved it.

Olivia's 6 months old!

We had a little 6 month birthday party/going away party for me on saturday. Olivia's getting so big, she's sitting up on her own and one step away from crawling. We started feeding her fruits and vegetables and today we gave her some water in a sippy cup. She didn't exactly enjoy the water.

The last picture we were playing with the headband Kari made for her and my dad snapped this little picture of her. Its a bit blurry, but we thought it was just so cute.

If you guys like this blog, you should check out what I'm going to be up to in Mass! I'm going to try and put up daily posts while I'm up there, mainly because I will be all by my lonesome and will want to keep in touch with Kari and I guess if you guys want to read along, that will be fine with me. ; )

new stick family

Make your Stick Figure Family at FreeFlashToys.com I guess I better make Olivia a baby since she is only 6 months!!!

Olivia is learning to give KISSES, and she slobbers all over Shaun in the process. She is really so sweet that even her slobber is adorable.

This is Olivia laughing at Shaun. She really loves her Daddy and thinks he is Hilarious. She also loves to grab his beard.

These are some new pic's of Olivia. This is her first time in a highchair, and some shots at home, playing in Mom and Dad's room.

I CANT BELIEVE IT!!!

She is getting too dang big! Kari caught her being cute and getting up on all fours!

Shaun is leaving soon:( We have just finished a crazy move from our little house to live with my Mom and Dad. We drive Shaun to Turner Falls, MA on Aug 27th. I am getting a little sad at the thought of it. Olivia is now sitting up, all by herself! Shaun has been coaching her, and on Sunday I came downstairs to find her sitting up, just like a big girl. She is so much fun, and we are enjoying every minute. Shaun especially is trying to fill every min with Olivia. It's a good thing that she totally adores her Daddy;)

A fun idea and something to keep me busy while Shaun is gone

The Gift That Keeps On Giving I totally copied this from my friend Audi, but I think that it sounds like fun! I hope someone else will want to do this with me!! SOOOOO come on friends! I will make you something really fun, I promise:) Here's how it works: the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or copy and paste like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Just the thought of receiving something in the mail that isn't a bill is delightful! Come and play! Now, remember "ya get what ya get and ya don't throw a fit".And don't get your hopes up too high, but I will do my best!

Shaun's Photography

Well, as most of you know, I (shaun) will be heading to Mass. in september to go to school for 10 months. It's gonna be a trying time, but while i'm up there, I will be putting most of my experiences and work on my photography blog. You should check it out. It's a bit boring right now simply because I deleted all my old posts because I got frustrated with the computer and couldn't figure out exactly how to manipulate the site to do what I wanted to it to do. After a minute (and ramen noodles) I figured it out. So I have one post on there at the moment. But just so you are all aware, Kari will put still put a bunch on this blog because I will go crazy if I don't see my girls often, but if you want to see what I'm up to in school and some of the stuff I'm doing, check it out. the link is to the right.

Just plain obsessed

Kari and I are boring married folks that love taking pictures of our little girl. Kari took some of me and her, we took her outside in the back yard and Kari helped me take some of her. Kari even put her in a laundry basket during the garage sale! We love that she's playing back with us now.

We love this little outfit her aunt Cheney got for her, the little apple of her parents eyes!

Already so dramatic!

Poor thing, we layed her down and no sooner did we get the camera ready did she vomit all over herself! This was the look she gave us that was a nice combination of too much sun and after vomit face.

Break your heart beautiful!

While Kari was trying to get some rest before her shift tonight, I snapped some pictures of Olivia in between naps. I can't get over the fact that she's my little girl! I love my family so much it hurts sometimes!

Olivia Fights Back!

Kari, Olivia, and I all went to dinner with the family and Olivia was in a bit of a mood.  She kept doing what she was doing so we pulled out the camera.  She was cracking all of us up!

Austin Trip!

Memorial day was filled with rainy days and lots of food in Austin.  My good friend from high school Kimmy and her fiance Chris came down from Boston to check out the Austin scene.  

We were really excited about seeing the famous bats underneath the Congress St. bridge. (word to the wise though, they stink to high heaven!!)

The sun came out and we drove over Kraus Springs to go swimming.  It was filled with lots of people that were getting their spirits on.  But it was a lot of fun to go swimming and it had a really cool waterfall.

We went to another restaurant to end out the trip called the Oasis.  Its a 5 balcony mexican restaurant that is famous for the sunset view.  I got a shot of it down below.