the road trip continues..

we have been without internet/wi-fi for most of last week..so much catching up to do!!

i'm going to work on my blog, emails and such other things that involve being "online" in the next day..

so stay tuned..i have lots of goodies..

here's a peek into yesterday's e-Session with taunia & aaron to hold you over til tomoro for more of their loveliness.. :)

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{our true wedding wish} winners!!! || vancouver wedding photographer

**AND THE LUCKY COUPLE IS…*

shannon+omer!

before we introduce shannon+omer to our blog readers, we would just like to share that it was incredibly hard to select the couple whose story touched jeanie and myself the deepest. all of your life journeys were incredibly touching, and jeanie and i would like to thank each and every one of you for honoring our gift by sharing your deepest thoughts with us.

jeanie and i made our selection based on availability first and then followed by couple’s connection to the non-profit sector, as well as the story of how they met.

shannon+omer’s story related an incredible journey of destiny : despite them being on opposite ends of the world and from vastly different cultures, their worlds collided (in a good way) (; maintaining a strong and deep friendship from the very beginning, their story turned to love. shaped by determination at different seasons of their relationship, they persevered to bring joy and culture to a community with music, dance and love!

here is an excerpt from their story they shared with us : “omer and I found that despite being born on opposite sides of the world and growing up in vastly different cultures, we were like two peas in a pod. we didn’t know how to define our friendship. soulmate felt too romantic and kitschy. we never tried to give it a title, though one person once told us we were ‘twin souls’.”

…thank you for sharing your story with us, shannon+omer! congratulations from jeanie and i!

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a wonderful sight to wake up to || vancouver photographer

when we left this morning, my breath was taken away.. ah, how i forgot how totally dreamy the hoar frost that only the prairies has truly is.. it's magical.. if you're not familiar with it, it's really thick frost.. sometimes i have seen it and inch thick.. it's like winter "icing".. :)

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our true wedding wish - contest closed! || vancouver wedding photography

**CONTEST IS NOW OVER*

a huge THANK YOU to all of the couples who wrote in with their stories!

jeanie and i will begin our selection of the one lucky couple who will receive their true wedding wish! they will be notified by email at 5pm PST! A blogpost will be published as well at that very same time!

keep posted! (:

…and happy valentine’s day!


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"the run-away olympics road trip" - day 1... :)

feb 12 was a day of lots of memorable things..

...we started our roadtrip towards manitoba... we are stopping in calgary, sprague MB, winnipeg, estevan, SK and back to calgary before we head for home the 2nd of march...

...the luge athlete from georgia crashed and died at practise up in whistler..sigh..our hearts go out to his poor family.

...the winter olympics started in vancouver...what an incredible spectacle it was..so very proud to be a canadian..

...14 years ago we, jonathan and i, moved to the philippines, just 6 months married and lived an incredible life as missionaries in manila...it was 6 years that has forever changed our lives and we'd never trade..

yes..feb 12 was filled with so much...

here's a few photos from our trek out to calgary... we stopped for lunch in kelowna, and dinner at golden..

we also did some "school work" and stopped at THE LAST SPIKE, where the last spike on the CPR railway was put...was very cool.. the kids really liked it..yay! :)










and then there was the majestic mountains...i always marvel at the hugeness of the rocky mountains we have here...ya.. :)






and then we had an overly expensive, not so tasty 50s diner meal for dinner.. :)


we arrived in calgary just before 10pm.. today's schedule? r&r and watching the 2010 olympic games on the couch. :)

xoxo

ps - caleb named our road trip.. he's so rad. :)

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and so it begins..

we left r place at 7:44 this morning...heading east.. it's now 8:16
pm, Alberta time n we just passed Banff.. I'm typing on my iPhone.. my
first mobile blog post! :)

we had lunch in kelowna with my parentals n sis at moms amazing new
store.

we drive some more and stopped in golden for an expensive so-so 50s
diner for dinner.

I wanted to stop in banff.. one of my most favorite places. (we
honeymooned there almost 15 yrs ago...!) but lover wants to get to
Calgary before it's really late. :) so on the way home we will :)
besides, I have to do day 3 of the 30-day shred! :p

tomoro is sleep in day...! I will post some pics from today too. until
then, one of my "Ansel Adams" inspired mountain pics taken on my
iPhone. ;)

xoxo

a little thursday humor to get us to the weekend..

yes i am posting something my dear sister-in-law sent me in an email this morning..it was really funny... had to share.. :) and being i have an almost teenager and all..

A father passing by his son's bedroom was astonished to see that his bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then he saw an
Envelope, propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to 'Dad.'

With the worst premonition he opened the envelope
with trembling hands and read the letter.

Dear Dad:

It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you.

I have been finding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice.

But I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercing, tattoos, tight motorcycle clothes and the fact that she is much older than I am. But it' s not only the passion...Dad she's pregnant.
Stacy said that we will be very happy.
She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children.

Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone.
We'll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the other people that live nearby for cocaine and ecstasy.

In the meantime we will pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so
Stacy can get better. She deserves it..

Don't worry Dad. I'm 15 and I know how to take care of myself.

Someday I'm sure that we will be back to visit so that you can
get to know your grandchildren.

Love, Your Son John

PS. Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at Tommy's house.

I Just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than a Report card That's in my center desk drawer.

I love you.

Call me when it's safe to come home.

happy thursday friends.. :)

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{our true wedding wish} || vancouver wedding photographers

**ONLY FOUR DAYS UNTIL WE PICK A LUCKY COUPLE**

hi everybody! just to let you know that there are only FOUR DAYS left until jeanie and i pick the one lucky couple who will receive their true wedding wish!

all submissions must be emailed to ourtrueweddingwish@gmailcom by 10am PST on sunday, february 14th, 2010. we are looking forward to reading all the submissions! (:

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

greetings!

we have wonderful news! due to the number of responses we have had for our wedding gift, we are extending the deadline!

AND there is more!

as we have sifted through interested couples, we felt that we should ammend and expand who qualifies for the true wedding wish.

the new deadline is valentines’ day, 2010.

the new qualifications are that

…whilst work in a non-profit organisation is not necessary, a commitment to the non-profit community must be demonstrated. please substantiate with letters of references from communities and organisations that you (or both) are involved in.
…the wedding does not need to be in vancouver. tracey and i are both willing to travel. travel details can be worked out with the lucky couple.

we hope that we will make one 2010 couple’s wish come true!

…make it an outta-this-world valentine’s day, knowing that your wedding will be photographed by myself and jeanie ow of studio jeanie, two of vancouver’s TOP 50 PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHERS!

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we got a road trip comin' on... || vancouver photographer

it's 8:53 on tuesday. we leave friday morning for our family road trip thru the prairies to manitoba and back, with stops in between. it should prove to be a good time for our little family of 4. the last couple months have been awfully stressful all-around as a family, so it will be good to re-group together on our little adventure. :)

i have yet to pack...really, are we surprised? i intend to do the rest of the laundry tomoro while i'm at home hacking away at my lists of to-do's so i can pack thurs.

pacey gets groomed tomoro...he is staying at our house with our best friends. should be nice for him. :)

the torch comes through our neighborhood thursday morning between 10-11.. yay not at an ungodly hour. plan to see that.

did i mention i have a trillion things i would LIKE to get done before we go? ya.. giggle..

i plan to blog more on our trip..i plan to photograph for ME on my trip, as well as i have several gigs across the prairies on the trip too. good times.

we plan to visit the grandparents j has left, in calgary and manitoba...plus a few close friends along the way.

i feel emotionally tired and spent..so i am really looking forward to "laying low".

i will email..when i can. i will do my best to keep the www.vancouverphotogs.com up to date..as best i can. i plan to tweet some.. not lots..but some.. i will read my blog feeds and twitter feeds when i can. i plan to play an obscene amount of bejeweled and scrabble on my iphone, and if my words with friends decides to start working again, i'll resume that too.

we still haven't found a new place to live when we move out of here march 31. haha.. no i'm not stressed.. ;)

but my mother was gracious enough to pack up my christmas decor/tree while we were in idaho when she was here with the kids..chuckle..yes i had my tree up last monday.. dont judge. :)

we plan to continue to build our other business (www.saferforyourhome.com) on this trip too. i'm excited about that. financial freedom is on the horizon and that makes me very happy. :)

our best friends who live downstairs...ya..that's gonna suck when we move out..so much change.. not a fan.. gah..

well..that's the "real me" for a few moments.. it's now 9:03 pm and time for this chiquita to hit the hay and take some meds to get this headcold/cough/flu out of here..no time to be sick.

talk soon..thanks for reading.. :)

oh, and another photo from jackson hole, WY for good riddens. ;) these are our elk friends from the elk refuge. :)

xoxo
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wearing the blue olive hat || vancouver wedding photographer

the last couple wedding seasons i've had the delight of working with blue olive photography.

reilly and miranda are not only fabulous to work with, but they have become some of our favorite friends. :)

last summer reilly and i shot a wedding...and i just noticed on their blog that it was in wedding bells magazine.. yay us! :)

thanks m&r for letting me wear a blue olive hat..i always enjoy it! :)

xoxo

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