glamping!

the cover photo on this month's sunset mag is of a gorgeous luxury furnished and super inviting canvas "tent" at lakedale resort in the san juan islands.

i quickly skipped to the article "camp in comfort" and fell in love with the idea!

i checked out the lakedale resort website (here) and fell even more in love with the idea, especially since they called it (my very favorite new word) "glamping!" glamour + camping! that is my idea of a compromise!

so, i am very tempted to try talking the hubby into changing our vacation plans this summer. we are all set to explore the gorgeous oregon coast for a week (we had a brief taste of it last october on our trip back from san franscisco and have been dying to go back with more time on our hands), but a week exploring the san jauns and enjoying some lazy glamping days sounds absolutely perfect!

speaking of perfect....

love, love this portrait of the klumper fam, taken in port townsend this weekend.

more klumperiffic fabulousness next post. yay!

xoxoxo,

nik

"once in awhile, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairytale" - anonymous.

a blessed, happy easter weekend indeed.

move over martha. eddie the fabulously fabulous easter egg decorator is in the house!

o was growing a totally rad mullet. thank you marjorie for cleaning it up just in time for easter pics. phew.

while we were in port townsend for the klumper family portrait session saturday (stay tuned later this week for a sneak peak!), oliver and roo took a break from the GORGEOUS sunshine and shared a refreshment. too cute.

and after church on sunday, the boys thoroughly enjoyed their very first easter egg hunt. loved it.

in typical toddler fashion, oliver protested the family photo.

pictures are meant to tell stories - looks like ours tell the truth. aha!

xo,

nik

"our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone,

but in every leaf in spring-time." -martin luther

baby jakob - more faves / madonna and walmart fun

good mornin peeps!

stayed up way too late last night editing - but had a lot of fun...

here are a few more jems of sweet little jakob. what a lovie!

i have 1300 + photos to edit for the daycare auction next weekend! many sleepless nights in my very near future. ;)

on another topic - does anyone actually care if lady gaga's new hit sounds like a rip-off of a madonna song? since yahoo has decided this is major front page news, here are my two cents: to me (with my childhood memories of dancing around the house in mom's aerobics outfits to madonna's legendary hits "material girl,"  "crazy for you" and "lucky star") no one can hold a candle to old-school madonna. not even gaga. for some fun thursday morning nostalgia - check out this video.

maria belle was kind enough to forward a new set of "people of walmart", a.k.a. "walmartians" photos to me this morning. check out these two amazing multi-tasking moms! i love it that people are shameless enough to pull out their camera phones and get these fantastic shots! yay walmart photographers!

oliver wore his new ADORABLE little bicycle clip-on neck tie to school today for his class easter party. his teachers were swooning over him when i left. i am so excited for the fun-filled easter weekend ahead! egg-coloring tonight. family photos in port townsend saturday. church, brunch and easter egg hunt on sunday. and lots and lots of editing in between it all. ;)


xoxo,


nikki

"be absolutely determined to enjoy whatever you do." - gerry sikovski

beach weekend + new senior portraits

ryan thought we could use some time away to cut loose. so he arranged for oliver to have an overnighter at grandma and grandpa's so we could spend some time at the beach. headed to ocean shores saturday morning and spent the day with homey and jen and pops (ryan's dad, jack).

fun, brightly painted buildings seem to beckon spontaneous photo ops. so, when i spotted these ones on our way into town, we had to stop and snap a few.

homey and jen laughed through theirs pics.

ryan and i got romantical! yeah. baby.

(i love out of focus kissy shots. great work jen, even if it was not on purpose).

we had a blast at the beach. ate some fabulous grub at galway bay irish pub. then we built a bonfire and danced around it to a mixed cd that ryan compiled for pops, entitled "a plethora of green day songs." we slept in until at least 8:00 sunday morning! good times had by all. thank you, thank you ma and
bob for hanging with o!

if you have never gone to the ocean to unwind, i very highly recommend it. i hear there is a clam tide this weekend so if you need a fun reason for a spontaneous getaway, clamming is super fun...

oliver was thoroughly enjoying his juice box and his time with grandpa bob when we arrived to pick him back up. word is he was very well behaved at church. yay oliver! yay grandma and grandpa!

once we got home from the beach, unpacked and cleaned up, i headed out to another beach for a

senior portrait session.

brian and his mom joan are so rad! this shoot was fantastic fun. we shot at the cove (private beach in normandy park - beautiful location) and then headed to old downtown des moines in search of brick and bright walls. luckily, we found both.  here are a few of my first faves.

happy graduation brian! and best of luck at central!

nik

"success is not the key to happiness. happiness is the key to success. if you love what you are doing,

 you will be successful." - herman cain. 

my bobby.

i have spent the better part of the last 10 days trying to deny the reality that my bobby is no longer with us.

a few years ago when i was going through a rough break-up, i moved in with mary and bobby. in the months they graciously shared their home with me, we became the very best of friends as they helped me to get back on my feet and put the pieces of my broken heart back together.

bobby and i used to spend hours sitting on the back porch with our cocktails and cigarettes (my mom is cringing right now i am certain at the thought of me having a brief stint with such a yucky habit. sorry mom) chatting and laughing. bobby would tell me over and over again what a catch i was and that my future was soooo bright.

once a week, my bobby would leave a five dollar bill and a note ("a coffee treat for you. love, your bobby") on the kitchen table for me. always made my day.

we became even closer after i found ryan. mare and bobby helped us plan our wedding, our honeymoon, and later, for oliver's arrival. mary and my bobby were as excited for us to become parents as we were ourselves. bobby loved oliver so much.

my bobby had a way about him - bright shining eyes (the most beautiful sky blue eyes), infectious smile, an incredible heart - a way of making people feel truly special.

he was an amazing man. kind, generous, funny, honest, loving, genuine. he gave the very best hugs.

to be a friend of bobby's was to feel incredibly loved. i feel so blessed to have been one of his best friends.
i will miss him always.

i know he is now watching over mary and me and everyone lucky enough to be loved by him. i will take all that i learned from him about healing broken hearts and do my very best to help my mary put the pieces back together.

(September 6, 2008)

nik

"wherever you are, it is your friends who make your world." - william james



tappy tap tap

i have been shooting a ton of photos of o's school friends for the upcoming daycare auction. (i have 1300+ images to sort through/edit). 90+ adorable littles. it has been a blast. here are two of my favorite shots of some of the girls during tap class. if i am blessed with a baby girl someday, she will most certainly be encouraged to take ballet and tap. these classes were sooooo    much     fun     to photograph!

happy thursday friends.

nik

"don't sweat the small stuff."

sweet baby jakob.

there is something about itty bitty brand newbies that makes my heart skip a beat.

when i found out i would have the privilege of shooting baby jakob at just 5 days old, i was ecstatic.

and for good reason. he is a beauty. picture perfect.

(jakob is already opinionated. loves mommy. loves binky. not so much into "props." aha.)

welcome to the world little one.

cheers,

xoxo.

"i actually remember feeling delight, at two o'clock in the morning, when the baby woke for his feeding, because i so longed to have another look at him." - margaret drabble