You know those advent calendars that help you count down to Christmas?  Everyday you open one window and inside is a little chocolate or something?  Well, I thought it would be rather cool to do something like that - but without the chocolate.  I'm sorry, I just don't have enough chocolate to share with everyone!  How about photos though? 

So my challenge is to blog one photo every day from the 25th of November (today!) to 25th of December (Christmas!).  Most of the photos will be shots Paul has taken that made me go "Ohhhh.... coooool.  I should blog that!" and then I never do.  Well, 'never' stops today, and some of his gorgeous shots will see the light of day after all.  Other photos will be snapshots of our family during 2009, that make me smile and give you a small glimpse of our life away from the camera.

So here goes!

Paul took this today.  How's this for perfect timing?

And closer in, even cooler!

Vanessa and I were best friends as young teenagers.  We spent many a late night giggling, eating junk food and watching Anne of Green Gables.  We supported eachother through the spiral perm and swooned over New Kids On The Block, arguing about who was the spunkiest.

When I was 18 Vanessa moved away, and our lives took very different paths.  She travelled the world doing all sorts of fun and crazy stuff, while I stayed home, got married and had half a dozen kids.  A few years ago Vanessa found Shane, who is a super awesome guy and suits her down to the ground.  They got married and now have the most gorgeous little girl, Tahlia.

Last year while heavily pregnant we had a fun pregnancy shoot together - and I couldn't wait to see what kind of perfect little person Shane and Vanessa would produce! 

This is Vanessa, and time has been kind to her as she still looks so young!

This is Shane.  Reeeeeeallly nice guy.

I love this:

Then last month Vanessa stopped by for dinner while they were holidaying here with her family.  We had planned to do a Mummy/Daughter photoshoot, but Tahlia wasn't feeling 100%, and the weather was too windy and cold to take her out.  Not to worry, I did catch a few snaps of her while they were here. 

See?  What a cutie!

Check out the ponytail.  How cute is that!!

It was so awesome to catch up with you again!  Let's hope next time you're down this way we can do a nice big family session! 

Oh, and Vanessa, for the record, Joe was the spunkiest New Kid On The Block.  And you've got a LONG way to go to catch with me as far as the number of kids go!  I'm sure you can do it though... ready, set, GO!

We've just spent five days in beautiful Kaiteriteri, having a lovely break away with the children.  Although I thought we would have internet access without any problem, I was in for a huge shock!  We could only connect via the cell phone, which was very VERY slow and painful.  It's amazing how spoilt I have become, wanting all my emails and information HERE and NOW.  Ah well, it did mean that I had a proper break away from it all, and that was very nice.

While we were there, my brother Roulf and his fiance Elisha came to visit.  I haven't seen Roulf in about 4 years as he lives over in Australia, so it was high time for a catch up!   So naturally I snuck them away for a quick photo shoot.

What better place to do it than the beach?    

It was great to finally meet Elisha, she's so pretty and fun loving! 

And knows how to work it!

Did I mention pretty?

And then up a tree.  Why wouldn't you?!  Thankfully, I didn't have to try and scamper up there as well, I don't think I've successfully climbed a tree in 15 years!

Thanks for coming to see us guys, it was really awesome to spend some time with you!  We'll do it again, hopefully sooner than later!

(more pics on my facebook page!)

On Saturday we were invited to photograph Caroline and Jamie's big day. I've been busting to blog these, but ended up with so many shots I wanted to share, so I'll put some on here and a bunch more on my facebook page. 

Caroline is the sweetest girl.  Soft spoken, funny and just plain nice really.  She mentioned that she didn't like to be the centre of attention, so I've decided to post all of her images without the head.  No... kidding, of course!  But I do like this shot a lot!

See?  Cute hu?

She had Jen and Jodie, her two great friends by her side.  Well done girls, you were great bridesmaids!

Jamie and Caroline have two dogs, and they're very much their babies.  So of course they were included in the photos as well!

Jamie is also sweet and soft spoken, they make such an awesome pair!

The wedding was held at Gibbs Restaurant, very nice indeed. 

Waiting with the boys, you can just feel the nerves, can't you?

How cute is this!?

Loving this one.  I've actually got quite a lot of pictures of the grandparents.  I love watching them during a wedding ceremony, there's always so much love and pride.

Ahhhhh... the late light!  Caroline is a designer and obviously knows a thing or two about planning her photos for the perfect light.  Good job Caroline!!

The lads...

These guys were a lot of fun to shoot! 

I'm so grateful to be able to lie on my tummy again.  It was getting mighty tricky near the end of the pregnancy to get these great low angles!

Jamie grew up in this area, and spent much of his childhood days playing on this very section, which used to belong to his grandparents.  These roses were much loved by his grandmother.

Did I mention that I love this late light? 

Caroline designed the invitations and menus etc for her wedding, and what an awesome job she did!

Ohhh... the speeches, so heartfelt!  Gorgeous!

So that's the preview!  But there are still so many more I'm busting to show!  If you'd like to see a few more, toodle on over to my facebook page!  Just be aware that the quality of the facebook images aren't that great, but at least you get to see them! 

Fiona's wedding is next, in a few weeks.  I'm sooooo excited!!

I am the youngest child of eight kids, and believe it or not, I'm not even the craziest!  Somehow I was able to rope two of my sisters into a 'Highly Inappropriate Places To Wear Your Wedding Dress" shoot.  Why not the A&P Show? 

This is Saskia.  She still fits her dress from 23 years ago.  Lucky I love her, or else I could be silently resenting her gorgeous little figure.

This is Annemiek.  She was visiting our fair province, and we couldn't get a dress for her in time.  So it seemed perfectly normal to build one made from only the things we had on hand, silky white material, net curtains, hideous plastic roses and crystal thingies found on a lampshade.  Thanks Rachel for your creativity, that dress was truly something else!!

Not content with the ordinary, we made the shoot even more special by getting their hair done.  Vanessa from Vogue played along, and did an awesome job!

Nina from Pink Poppie did the flowers again.  She's so creative, suited our theme perfectly!

This kind of shoot is not for the faint hearted.  But these girls did me proud! 

Thanks also to Katherine for letting us into the show and to all of the carnies for being such good sports!

It must be about time for fashion to bring back the big lacy wedding dress?

To see the whole series, join me over on facebook (make sure you are added as a fan, it makes me feel loved....)

Watch this space for scenes from yesterdays gorgeous wedding!

This morning started out just like any other.  Muslie, coffee and a shower.  9.30am brought a lovely family together who had just celebrated their parents 40th wedding anniversary.  This is Mr and Mrs Ayson.  Cute, hu?

The youngest of the tribe was wee Sam.  What a doll!

And three year old Jack, the perfect little model.

After the shoot was over, we had arranged for Diane and Vaughan to sneak away with me for a fun shoot.  What I didn't know at the time, was that these guys are rockstars.  Perhaps not the traditional type of rockstars, but they certainly look the part!

Gorgeous!

I found an orange wall.  That made me very happy!

Way awesome!  I can't believe I haven't shot this wall before!

For this shot I was actually lying on the sidewalk.  You can't even begin to imagine how my clothes looked when I stood up!  Not to worry, I got the shot.

Another fun day!  Can't wait to show you all the rest guys!

In other news - we're just waiting for permission for Friday's Inappropriate Dress shoot.  It should be great fun!  Saturday brings us another wedding, and I can't WAIT!

I have a bit of an oddball sense of humour, in case you haven't already picked that up.  I've come up with a twist on the traditional "Trash the Dress" photoshoot.  It's all well and good getting the dress dirty, but how about going out in public and finding highly inappropriate places to wear your dress?  The premise is that you got up this morning, and all of your clothes are in the washing.  Not to worry, the wedding dress is clean! 

Here is my *too cute for words* niece Anneke.  I found a dress to fit her, and off to town we went!

Thanks to Nina from Pink Poppie for the awesome flowers!

This girl is not even a model, although she certainly could be!

How about the supermarket?  So much choice in toilet cleaners!

A little bit of drama by a mural in town.

You know that she's really got what it takes when she can look beautiful at the public toilets!

Pumping gas.... 

Rollerblading!  Why not?

Didn't we have fun Anneke!  And we didn't get arrested once! 

Next weekend, all going according to plan, I've got an even more dramatic Inappropriate Place To Wear Your Wedding Dress!  This is just the beginning!