Three Elves and Christmas......

Well, Christmas has come and gone. One of my favorite things to do is kind of meditate and reminisce about past Christmas's to see what I actually do remember. Most of the time it is the bizarre and comical things that tend to stand out in my mind. Hence the three elves. 

Elf #1 - The jolly looking one with the classic outfit, white beard, pointed hat and grinning face.  He is by far my absolute favorite ornament of all time. I managed to find ONE and only one reproduction on ebay for my collection....Way back when we (all of the cheerful kids) would battle for the rights to put it on the tree and 'hide' it for everyone else to find. My eldest brother would sometimes place it in our rooms and claim that they were Santa's own spokesmen...heheheh creepy but fun:D

Elf #2 - He looks like a reincarnated licorice man from Candy Land. Point = he freaked me out and I always thought he had no place on our tree....to sinister. 

Elf #3 - Plush elf on the bear's lap.  Cute little guy...but then try standing in a room and slowly turn around to find him on his feet looking at you from around the corner of a hallway wall!!!! Thank you sister...for always putting the special life into those things that shouldn't be alive. I dunno....I still laugh about it. I never liked those ventriliquists and their puppets. 

Christmas afternoon at our house could be summed up in this pic of my mom reading (my favorite christmas present..."Queen of Style" A MUST READ- it is hilarious.) in front of a time taking art creation, beside the pooch that rules the roost. 

The biggest hit gift was totally random and I think more intended for Jamison than anyone else...however we all spent a great deal of time on the wiggle car. 

No worries...the nativity scenes are limitless in our house as well...:D Jamison's favorite thing to do at our house is to run over to the table where the little 'play' nativity set sits. If you press down the angel who stands on top of the stable, you get a nice little musical tune. 

Bless the Season that brings so much joy...Merry Christmas

Happy Birthday Kido

Yeah for the Grange Familia! Here are some pics for the Holiday season and commemoration of little Jade turning the big 1! She's too cute for words, which is why she is so exceptionally fun to photograph.  This is also the reason why I want a checkered floor in my house one day. ....

random

So this is a very random post today. First off, Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope you all find a million things to be thankful for. My day started off with sleep, running in one layer (as opposed to three), and finishing the Alchemist. 

Here's my little pride and joy of a table. Wahoo...for sheet metal and 3D art class time. 

I didn't take this photo but it turned out amazing!!! Thanks Jess! Yet again some prolonging moments from my bday. I'm drawing it today.

Phil......here are two pics, that should had had their own Halloween post but I am just barely getting them up now.  Phil has a secret power of cloning himself and it is because of this that the world is a little better.

MIB moment!  What can I say, I have very special friends.
I was just messing around with photoshop and sadly I should be able to draw this instead of using a computer, oh well.  

I can't get the underlines to go away...help!

I have had an incredible week that officially started off with weekend festivities. I'm really grateful for all of those many people that care about me and made such a fabulous effort to make me feel loved this week. My chums took me out to see some Shakespeare western style. 'Much Ado About Nothing' had a stellar University cast. It is truly one of my favorites.  Anne outdid herself by making me an Abominable Snowman cake which looked and tasted amazing. When she starts her own pastry shop I will be her biggest customer and publicist. The girl has definitely got loads of talent and the most generous nature I ever come across. I love your guts! ( I can say that because she most likely won't read this). Sunday I spent with the fam at home, enjoying visitors while  I built my Harry Potter Lego castle. Yes, that is correct I'm a lego lover and it's a lethal combo when combined with some HP.  Sorry I'm waiting for some good weather opps to take photos of Harry and Hermione in action against Voldemort. Monday my sibs and mother went to the lunch, official with a birthday song sung to Kailey. Ha. It was a funny day. 

Thanks for all the bday texts, phone calls, emails and greetings. I felt loads of love and it's very empowering for the next month of enduring school:S I love you guys! I have the best chums, peeps and fam anyone could ever ask for. 

It's weird to think that a year ago I was living half way across the world, with a different family, different job, and a massive adventure ahead of me~! I'm proud to say that I have learned so much and I wouldn't have my life any other way. I really will remember my 21 year more than any other year. Too much has happened this last year that it would take some serious amnesia to forget it.  Now, this year I'm back in school as an art student at the U. (GO UTES). I do have school pride..sort of.  The feather lab welcomed me back and I'm picking up where I left off 12 months ago. One thing I am massively looking forward to this year is that my bro and his fam are moving back to SLC. Ah I just can't even wait because I have missed them so much. We were all spoiled by having Walk here for the last month with his new job and now he's bringing down everyone else. I can't wait to meet my new niece Viv and hang with Jamo, his madre and papa! 

Pache, one of my adorable little bros is gone...off to teach and preach the one and only true gospel to residents and visitors of Toronto Canada! I'm so proud of him and he's on fire up there. I'll try and post some pics of him on this blog so keep an eye out. 

So here's to being 22.....:D:D

here comes the bride....and groom

So the wedding came and went. I'm left with hundred of photos to go through and work on..but I thought I'd let a few of my easy fav's come out sooner. Everything went so smoothly, even the rain held off so we had no problems at the temple. I even successfully aerated at least half of the grass on the temple grounds with my heels. (Not falling once).  I do have a tendency to favor the bride on the left side...it just kind of happened that way.  

It's a challenge to find some 'new' angle or little pose that hasn't already been shot thousands of times. For all of you who have done the Salt Lake Temple photos you know what I'm talking about.  We all lucked out by having the grounds to ourselves!!! How sweet is that.  

More reception pictures to follow. I really appreciate places that have adequate lighting and space to work with. Eh...wasn't such a fan of the site they chose....but I have yet to see a place that is really photographer friendly.  

Andrea and Paul offset any pressure I was feeling afterwards with their spectacular modeling tactics.  Tragically the man eating cheesecake did NOT shove it in his mouth....it was just for the photo.  It was funny anyway!

Now it's off to more editing.......and album assemblage (who gets what cd of which pictures). It's a great thing I have so much time. :D

peace out

-ky

Bridals 101

Here are some of my favorites from the wedding project I have had the last couple of weeks.  Jess introduced me to this amazing little spot downtown in between buildings where I shot most of these. The other pictures were taken at the Gateway, and interesting choice of location but I really got a kick out of how the turned out. 

I think I have a long ways to go in order to claim myself a professional...but I'm getting closer. I don't think I could have this hobby with out digital technology. I love having fact results and being able to immediately change or mess around with something. 

Laura (Bride) was a great sport to do whatever I asked her to. She even got her sister to shove her up in a windowsill that was at least 4.5/5 feet off of the ground. Gotta love family.

Ultimate Party

The only real Halloween party worth attending is the Kasteler Halloween Fest. It's been a tradition for 20+ years and I have been going EVERY year even when I was overseas..I made an appearance through skype. Yeah, that was my costume last year...a face in a laptop screen. This year was just as amazing as always. My fam 'suited' up in a straight on the lawn. Kinnie even managed to document my little bro smiling at a family occasion. Everyone from the Kasteler side comes (that lives within driving distance of course) which makes it so fun and the best kind of fam reunion every year. 

One cannot disregard the food which was above all tasty as usual.  Words could not do justice to the cheesepuffs. In order to experience this devine treat you have to rig an invite to the party which is usually only possible if you are a significant other or a potential...good luck. 

Thanks Kinnie for making tremendous efforts as always. :D It's a treat to be in the fam!!

Halloween

This Halloween was definitely different.  My parents were out of town and I bailed on all party invites (except the fam's) so I could go and see THRILLER with a friend. I highly recommend the show put on by Oddyssey dance company. I'm determined to add it to my Halloween tradition (although maybe not on Halloween again).  SO what did I dress up as? My evil twin. I know it's original but at least I made an effort. The difference between us? She actually denied the urge to cut her locks so her hair is past her shoulders and almost to her mid-back range.  She went all out with crazy nails and make up (that you can't see well in the photo but it was totally there) even wearing some insane heels that walks over wet grass without falling. That is a talent. She is special. As for the personality...depends on the day, but she was determined to stay in good spirits until about midnight when things went to the pits...which is another story for reminiscing 20 years from now.  Yeah, it has been a very unforgettable holiday. 

continuation

My Favorite Things : As told by Baby Wednesday to Kylee

Fav people : Mommy and Daddy

Fav way to wear shoes :  half on/half off

Fav flowers:   dead roses

Fav expression : Whoa

Fav book: Boris & Bella (it's about a cleanfreak dude and scuzzy chick who throw parties but can't get along until.....)

Fav Prop: the cigar inside the pumpkin...too bad Kylee kept making weird noises so I would get distracted

Fav trick:  becoming invisible

Fav Place To Be : in between Mommy and Daddy

Here are some more photos from my Octoberfest, Kylee style.  I have to say one of my favorite photos is the overexposed one of Morticia and Wednesday. There definitely is a plus to having whiter skin...it disappears! 

My friends who posed for the Adamms family pictures had such an awsome look! They even brought some additional hair for baby Wednesday that was just hilarious.  It doesn't matter who is involved or what we are doing, my shoots always crack me up.  Baby Jade (Wednesday) was such a sport and who'd have guessed a kid could be so entertained by a cigar prop?  I might add that I very rarely shoot guys. Most of them don't jump at the chance to pose which I find kind of surprising. Waylon (Gomez) did a perfect job of taking it seriously.  Lizzie (Morticia), all I can say is wow. You worked the wig. It was perfect.

three little ghosts.....

I had this crazy idea for a Halloween series of shoots this month in order to arm myself with loads of material to p.s. (photoshop).   Here are a few photos from the first in the series. I had a lot of fun messing around with my computer and with my dear chums who are ALWAYS more than happy to participate. Round of applause goes out to you guys....Happy Halloween