Frank Neil Jackson, my dad's dad, passed away on Thursday November 4, 2011. Kyla and I visited him a few weeks before his passing to introduce him to his first great grandchild. Needless to say, he was all smiles and ready to get a photo with his hand on Kyla's belly. Ky asked him what he thought it would be, a boy or a girl, "a boy" he said. Simple as that.

Jed and I visited him again on the Saturday the 30th of October. He had gone down hill quite a bit in those three weeks and was now slightly disoriented and extremely tired. We stayed for a while and then decided to grab some lunch with my aunt. I kissed him on the head and Jed put out his hand to say goodbye. Grampa shook his hand and groaned as if Jed's grip was unbearable. Then he stopped, looked up and gave him the biggest toothless grin on can imagine. Later Jed told me that that moment to Jed meant that Grampa approved. Which is completely correct.

The Love Blog

I have been so in and out of deciding what to blog about that most of the time I just ignore the fact that I ever even created a blog. I have changed my mind again and this time, I am posting about what I am most passionate about in this wonderful world. LOVE.

This past weekend my dad's side of the family gathered in Durango, CO for my Grampa Frank's funeral. It just happened to be my Aunt Anne's 60th birthday as well. I remember thinking at dinner the night of her birthday how wonderful that she can be with all four of her siblings and all five of her children on such a milestone in her life. She thanked her mom, my Gramma, for taking Grampa's hand and bringing us all together. My Gramma passed away 19 years ago. And here we were, all together again celebrating life. That's love. In all it's awkwardness and irony, to have your mom take your dad with her so that you can celebrate your birthday with your entire family, that is love.

This is not the type of love I will be talking about most of the time. My love, is my love, Jed. And he will be my main focus, but there will be tidbits from all over that I will share with you. And maybe some photos too.

Thanks for reading!

Iron Svens: A Colorado Wonder

Jed and I decided to revisit the place where we were engaged because of this rare and unusual geological process. Two weeks ago when we were in this same mountains there were signs posted in areas that said 'no motorized travel due to the fragility of the iron fens'. No more explanation than that. We consider ourselves somewhat clever and after eliminating the idea that the iron fen was a type of bird, we decided it was, in fact, a plant. A very fragile plant that only grew on the left side of the road (where the signs were). Of course, that decision didn't keep us from googleing iron fens when we got home. Turns out, there are eight of these anomalies in Colorado and they are found no where else in the world! I'm not giving away their location, if you are that interested, you can do the research (we have to protect these bad boys), but WOW! Gorgeous!!!! The dogs loved it, but I'm not sure if they should have been drinking the water. Pico looks a little drunk.

Jed and I also decided to take some of our engagement photos while we were up in our special place. We'll do a real photo shoot with Kyla soon, but my goodness we had fun making fun of ourselves.

My Belated Birthday Gift

I found this really organized person on the internet one day. I apologize for not remembering who you are :( But I mentioned to Jed how much I loved the idea of a peg board above my computer and three days later he told me that he knew what he was going to get me for my birthday. That was in June. The other day I came home from a trip to Durango and Whha Lah... I've already overloaded it with stuff and I still want to put up more!!!!

Semi Anual Friendship Test

I would love to say that this group of people get together annually. Some of these fine folks see each other several times a year (since they reside in the northwest). However, two years ago in July was the last time we were all caught in the same vicinity. This year, we added Jed to the mix! And like a glove, hit fit perfectly. Here we are in Tacoma, WA/ Olympia National Park...

Best Buds

Jed and I just visited my best friend from college, Brit and her hubby, Hunter. They live on a private lake in Lakewood, WA. I think we are all still a little shocked at how quickly we grew up. It wasn't long ago that Brit, Hunter, myself and three other housemates were sharing a four bedroom house with a dog, a cat and two lizards. Wow. Time flies and great memories are made! Here Brit and her best bud, Augie, on the wooden barge that we took out on the lake the day we arrived :)

Adorable Adoptables

Steele and Hutchess are two of the adoptable dogs from Maxfund this month. Both are gorgeous, one more serious than the other. Steele is big on keeping his cool, while Hutchess found my jokes absolutely hilarious.

Mica & Jasmine

Such lovely ladies. Don't they look wonderfully proper? Lisa Sickles of Wag Wag Enterprises e-mailed me the other day to take photos of these girls for her husband as an anniversary gift. The shoot was undoubtedly easy, given that Lisa is a fabulous dog trainer and she has had Mica and Jasmine for over a decade.

Oldies but Goodies

These two are my favorite Flagstaff canines. Mr. Solo and Able Treacy. Solo and I were roommates for a few days last month, and the San Fransico Peaks were only a few blocks from the house. He has been on numerous back-country trips with us, and I cannot stress enough how unbelievably awesome he is.

Able's dad once told me that he just wasn't sure what he would do without him when that day comes. I'm not a fan of thinking about that sort of stuff, but I couldn't help but hear those words during the shoot. I am soooo happy that I caught Able with this look on his face. I'll be sending his pops a wood block wrapped up nice and tight with ribbons and bows so whatever happens, Able will be still be smiling.

The Product

I have decided that since I am not only a photographer, but I am an artist and a craftswoman, and I really enjoy wall art to spice up our house, why not offer all of the above to people that love their dogs as much as I do. These are my products: I offer them with a flat wood edge, or framed; as singles, doubles, or as a series of three or four. Each piece is custom mounted, by yours truly, to a wood block and is ready to hang when I deliver it!

The first two that I did were a birthday present for Jed... believe it or not, better than last years skydiving gift!

David: Flagstaff Musician

Dave Logan... the ultimate jack-of-all-traits. We befriended at Northern Arizona University and became family through Four Season Guides. This man is unbelievable! He is smart, handsome, funny as hell, and brace yourself ladies... he's single! He is a scientist, a musician, a backpacking guide, and an old soul. You can imagine how I felt when I received this facebook message:

"I can't believe it didn't hit me before! Wesley, I need you. Being that I'm now diving headlong into the uncertain world of music-for-a-living-ness, I need to create a website, press pack, etc. These things require photos. And so I would like to hire you, Miss Jackson....
...Your picture-taking is superb and I don't want anyone else to do it!
What do ya say, Weezie?"

My heart melts re-reading this! Thanks for this unbelievable opportunity to work with you, Dave!
I can't wait 'till you are famous!

You Know You Want One

Two of these sweethearts are spoken for. The rest are up for grabs! My mission... get them adopted! MaxFund is a no-kill shelter in Denver where 7 of the nine pups below reside. I spent some time with them today, and I will say if I didn't already have two dogs at home I would have taken every one of them back to la casa with me! There are many, many, many, more animals in need of love and attention at MaxFund and throughout the city. I need public spaces to hang photos of the pup's portraits to get the word out that adopting is super cool!!! Please, let me know if you know of spaces, places, and people to contact that might be interested in hanging some awesome artwork to promote and even more awesome cause...

Casa Tranquillo

Jed's mom gave us the most amazing post Christmas gift! She found a house on the beach only five minutes out of Tulum, Mexico. We spent a week body surfing, drinking cervezas on the roof and touring around ancient Mayan ruins. If you are interested check out Casa Tranquillo.

The view from our bedroom.

We watched the sunset from the roof every night. And found ourselves back up there first thing in the morning to watch the sunrise with an endless cup of coffee.
Jed, how did you get so handsome?
This is our lovely tour guide at the Coba ruins. What would we have done without him? Probably would not have learned much, that's what.
Jed walking through a tunnel. My dad pointed out the creepy looking ghost-like face in the wall to the right of Jed's head. Yikes!
Very nervous tourist descending the 138 foot Nohoch Mul, the tallest ruin in the Yucatan peninsula.

Poor Brian couldn't quite stay in the boat.

This entire family piled out of the small white truck behind them. They dropped a net in the water and one of the guys jumped down below the bridge that I was standing on to pull out some fish. I am pretty sure that this is highly illegal: a. because it is a wildlife sanctuary; and b. because they piled back into the truck and took off before I even noticed that the guy below me and his net were gone.
Casa Tranquillo and the people keeping the peace. :)
Jed looking at his three favorite women (his sister, his mom, and me!) on our last morning on the beach.