Paul gets to go to such awesome locations!  Lucky duck.

I loved hanging out with Teresa and Nathaniel today.  They had invited me into their home to capture their incredibly gorgeous little girl, Moahuia. 

How cute is this little family?

And possibly the most adored little baby in Marlborough (apart from my very own, of course!)

Sitting with Daddy.

When you're only brand new to the planet, pretty much everything is an absolute miracle!

Nathaniel and Teresa's first child happily guards the baby.

Modelling is such hard work, time for a nap!

Thanks guys, that was great fun!  I can't wait to show you all the rest!

This is me.  You won't find too many photos of me around.  It's not because I closely guard my privacy or anything, I'm just rubbish in front of the camera.  You would think that I, of all people, would be ok at getting my picture taken.  Not so.

Anyway, I spent much of last summer looking a lot like this.....

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!!