All photos at f/16 1/40 Now that we're a one-car family I use the light rail and bus to get to and from work one day a week. The bus drives along Main Street in Mesa, not normally a route I would take. Mesa is just north of the highway from where we live in Gilbert but it has such a different feel. It feels run-down and a bit sad to me. It feels like the recession is still holding on tight. But along the way I've noticed some amazing vintage motel signs and it makes me wonder what Mesa... Read more →

f/5.6 1/20 I found this scene on Dashiell's toddler table and loved the modern art look of it. His toys and books around the house are so cheerful and I love their simplicity and beauty. The Photo Challenge Next Door is a collaboration with my next door neighbor Erica from Laddventure. We're both switching our cameras to manual mode and sharing one photo per month. Check out all of my Photo Challenge photos here.You can see Erica's photos here. Pssst There's a brand new episode of The Girl Next Door podcast out today! We're talking fitness, weird quirks we both... Read more →

f/5.6 1/10 Dashiell is so in to books right now. He will pick out a book, bring it over and "hand" it to us (which looks very similar to throwing it at us) and then turn around and plop down in our laps or situate himself in his chair. It is the best. I peeked into Dashiell's room while these two were reading the other evening and was able to snap a picture without disrupting the moment. I like that this captures an everyday moment and that it's not a close-up, detail shot, which is something I do often. The... Read more →

f/8 1/1600 It's so hard for me to get an in-focus picture of Dashiell these days. Certainly I can't do it with my phone, which has enough delay that there's at least always a blurry limb. In this photo, Dashiell was mesmerized by a small twig and leaf that he found on the ground as he explored our patio area (completely naked, by the way). I love his look of concentration, his fat cheeks that curve out and the fuzzy back of his neck. The Photo Challenge Next Door is a collaboration with my next door neighbor Erica from Laddventure.... Read more →

f/5.6 1/400 I took this at the nature reserve near our house on my way home from work. A simple thing like stopping somewhere on my way home from work feels so liberating. My days tend to be very structured now and I go from home to daycare to work to daycare to home without much variation. Getting out of my routine, even by a few minutes, felt refreshing. Now that I have published four photos as part of this photo challenge I can look at the collection and make some observations. Obviously I love to place my subject on... Read more →

f/7 1/160 Erica and I have been busy launching our podcast(!) but are excited to get back to our monthly Photo Challenge posts. I took this photo during a day time weekend bath. I love that it captures an every day activity but also the sweetness and attentiveness that Chris has with Dashiell. The Photo Challenge Next Door is a collaboration with my next door neighbor Erica from Laddventure. We're both switching our cameras to manual mode and sharing one photo per month. Click the sidebar button to see all my Photo Challenge photos. You can see Erica's photos right... Read more →

f/8 1/4000 Earlier this month we spent a weekend with friends at their Prescott Valley home, just a couple hours north of the Valley. We hiked in the chilly, pine-scented air, ate our fill at Bill's Pizza, and sat by a fire in the evening. Our babies even synched a couple of their naps and we were able to all relax with our coffee on the back porch and just talk. I now appreciate how glorious it is to have two free hands to wrap around a mug of coffee. I came home from the weekend feeling refreshed and reminded... Read more →

I'm so excited to share my first post in a new series, The Photo Challenge Next Door. It's a collaboration that Erica, my favorite next-door-neighbor-blogger (NDNB for short?), and I have been cooking up as a way to conquer our scary DSLR cameras. We're both switching our cameras to manual mode and not looking back. (Eeek!) Every month we'll each share a photo that we took with our cameras in manual mode. There are sure to be some less than impressive photos. But we're committed to figuring things out and we can only get better from here (right?). I'll post... Read more →