happy anniversary!

those of you who know us (or have been following our blog long enough) know that kim and i celebrated another anniversary on may 18th.
i'm banking on the iMac i got kim to distract her enough that she doesn't realize this post is 2 weeks late. if that doesn't work i'll try this...
these rings have no beginning and no end, like my love for you kim.
that'll work for sure. it's genius! (said while doing celebratory moonwalk away from desk.)

check out this insane crisp exposure of kim and i from back in the day.
we took our 1.2 everywhere we went.
it's seen more clubs than [b]ecker in an all night poker tourny.
nothing can touch the 1.2 for sharpness.
nothing.

1.2 megapixel that is.

even with all that noise, kim is still hot hot hot.

hows this for a custom crop?
you know we paid extra for that.

here's the big day. we were just pronounced mr and mrs.

this is kim's super cool uncle buster. sadly, we lost him a couple years after our wedding. this is one of the last shots of him and kim together. we still miss him very much.

i believe kool moe dee said it best...

this is what happens whenever an article of kim's clothing is flung into a crowd of single men. our friend dave was the (lucky?) recipient of kim's garter. i couldn't tell if he was screaming for joy, or if he was sustaining bodily injury, so i hopped on top of the pile to check. i can't be totally sure, but amidst all the noise, i may have heard the faint sounds of crackling bones.

angela and angel found themselves being kim's kickstands a couple times that night.

this is where things got really fun. my old navy friend doug (and some dude in red boardshorts that we didn't even know) got into the caterer's cool whip supply.
the night was about to jump up a notch.

singing the praises of the ymca.

a slightly different take on the dollar dance.

after i slipped out of something more confining i hopped up on the table and got in on the action.

doug hooked me up with some styling whip.

kim, being the giving person she is, shared her cool whip with angela.

job well done crasher dude and doug...

job well done.

before the night was over, i had more drinks poured over my head than i could count, i was stripped of all clothing from the waist up, and i had cool whip in 4 of 6 orifices.
in other words, it was an awesome night.
kim and i both said we'd get married again just to have another reception. ours was at marina village and there were people coming over from other wedding receptions to party at ours. so much fun!

we closed our reception with everyone singing 40. we invited everyone that was still there back to our hotel room so they would have a safe place to stay the night (and sober up) then kim and i hopped in our rented chrysler sebring convertible and drove around pb and belmont park for a bit then went home to prepare for our honeymoon in oahu the was starting the next morning at 6am. no sleep til...north shore.

when choosing an anniversary gift for your new bride, you may want to save this one for a few years. i had this sign flown around cabrillo national monument and the old point loma light house (where i asked kim to marry me) for our 1st anniversary. how do you top that?
seriously. how do you top that?
i need some ideas for next year.

our awesome wedding photographer, rich pecjak, met us over in hawaii to take some honeymoon shots.

last time i was on navy reserve duty in oahu i gave kim a call and told her i was walking on the beach in waikiki. i then asked her to log on to the duke cam for a little surprise. here's what she saw.

through the magic of al gore's internet and my trusty mobile phone, i asked kim to marry me again.
as soon as we get the time and funds together we are going to throw one rad reception (with a little ceremony). we'll keep you posted.
one thing's for sure. when it jumps off we're going to hire the MOST RADTASTIC PHOTOGRAPHERS to capture it all.

in case you were still wondering, kim said h-e-double-hockey-sticks yes!.

happy anniversary kim! you are still the signal fire that guides me.

click here to see how much I LOVE YOU!

if those images just weren't enough kim and dave for you, check out the slideshow.

*added to post*
april gave us this sweet sketch (from my favorite ride at Disneyland) for our anniversary.
click here to see some more of april's artwork.

Andrea's Prom

our good friend Peggy at Perfect Gathering Events put together a sweet little pre-prom party for andrea and her friends at the super cool Icon Building in downtown San Diego.

we started up on the roof overlooking Petco Park. The view up there is beautiful. andrea fit right in.

andrea and her gorgeous friends didn't stay up on the roof long. peeking over the railing from that dizzying height was kinda scary, not to mention it was getting too chilly up there to be wearing nothing but a prom dress.

after packing in the elevator like sardines for the long ride down, it was time for some shots in front of the shimmer wall. isn't that a song by oasis?

if it was a song it would be about how everyone standing near it looks amazing.

thank you peggy for having april and i out to capture part of this night. i love taking non-traditional prom photos!
hope everyone had an awesome prom.

eddie + kellye's blessed union

friends.
there are a lot of different categories that we place our friends into. some are awesome for this, while others are great for that.
some are good friends.
the rare few receive the title of best friends.
then there are the friends that, just by knowing them, make you a better person. friends that inspire you. friends you wish you were more like.
eddie and kellye are those friends. as are our mutual friends ross and his wife lesya.
they are the kind of friends that, without trying or asking, make you want to give more, help more, do more.
ross was scheduled to fly from muldova to san diego to shoot eddie and kellye's wedding, but lesya became very ill only weeks before the wedding. they barely had to mention what happened and without hesitation i stepped in for ross so he could stay with lesya.
the clouds of despair would not darken this day. not on my watch.

i'm not going to steal eddie and kellye's thunder. if you want to know all about the special meaning of 512 you'll just have to ask them.

eddie and kellye chose the most awesome place to get married. it was a huge house in valley center ca that had tons of fun vintage items all over.

popcorn!

these two have so many wonderful friends and family members. everyone pitched in to make this wedding awesome.
eddie knows people who know people who shoot people (with cameras).
Damion Hamilton and Deven Carter were there taking pictures with me. (thanks dev for letting me borrow your 70-200 during the ceremony.)
i can't wait to see their images.

eddie and kellye had the most amazing ceremony. it was absolutely filled with love, joyful emotions, and a healthy spritzing of happy tears.

love is such a powerful thing.

spend 5 minutes with these two and you will know...

eddie and kellye were made for each other.

forget the rice. leave the bubbles in the tub.
this was one of the coolest things i have seen at a wedding.
eddie and kellye gave a butterfly to each of their guests. everyone got together on the dancefloor and released them all at once. butterflies everywhere! so fun.

another very cool thing eddie and kellye did was instead of serving wedding cake, every table got a warm, fresh from the oven, round loaf of bread.
seeing everyone break bread together was such a powerful moment. i hope this catches on at more weddings.

eddie and kellye let me play with light a little bit. (i'm still breaking in my radio poppers.)

i was able to pull the couple away from the crowd for a few quiet moments together.

eddie totally surprised kellye when he walked out to the center of the dancefloor with guitar in hand and broke out in song for her.

totally surprised.

eddie does awesome video work and he put together a sweet video showing the history of eddie and kellye. i love videos at weddings.

all the guests showed eddie and kellye out with style. the newlyweds ran the gauntlet and headed out into the night.

what am i forgetting here?
hmmmm....
oh ya, the rings.
i couldn't let eddie and kellye leave without getting a couple ring shots.

this one took a little pre-click scouting. do you have any idea how hard it was to find a little 512 in that huge venue?
congratulations you two. thank you so much for asking me to share in your wonderful day. you did such a great job to ensure that everything was absolutely perfect.

not to bring everyone down, but i would like to ask everyone reading this to join us in praying for eddie's great aunt who suffered a stroke while at the reception. luckily, paramedics arrived on-scene quickly and got her the primary care she needed, but last we heard she was still in the hospital. please hop over to eddie's blog and give him some words of support.