crybaby

Maria and her amazing camera caught this excellent series of Jack winding up for the wail (we think he looks like Dana Carvey in the second one!).

oh, and one more

Maria's Christopher, me, Mac & Brig

This is my favorite non-wedding party photo of the night!

lady loves

I love them.

wedding sneak peek!

Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Perrigo (and Baby Jack too, who was lookin' like a stud in his overalls)!

well, this is awesome

Roald Dahl & Ernest Hemingway hanging out together in London? I dig it.

wedding festivities

Maria & Ash making Laura's bouquet

Mama loving on her boy

Papa John & Little John

Staring contest... Jack wins.

Brig & me "scuttle-ing"... We should just apologize now

Mimosa toast to Laura at her Bachelorette Brunch

Jack was unimpressed with brunch

I, on the other hand, was thrilled with the dining options

Oh, sweet little baby foot

My lovely Laura... The BRIDE!

pageant girl

This is my amazing, beautiful and talented Maria. She wrote a movie. Someone read it. He liked it. And now she's making a movie.

Umm.... INCREDIBLE!

But she can't do it alone so she set up a Kickstarter to see how many people might be into it as well. Watch the trailer, see what you think and maybe kick her a buck or two!

Seriously, this woman is going places and having read the script myself, I can see no reason why this shouldn't be HUGE.

Cheers to Maria Martin! I'm watching you make it happen lady - you're an inspiration!

(Maybe now I'll get my rear in gear and get something done!)

south by southwest

Jared sent a new picture! This is the GFP crew at an observatory about 10,720 ft. in elevation. He also said they got word that this dispatch got extended, probably going to be gone at least another 14 days!

I can't see him right now, but I'm guessing he's got a big ol' smile on his face. And probably a little ash as well.

happy father's day!

My father has taught me many things, among them I count this as most important: "Give a little more, take a little less."

Happy Father's Day to the most honest, generous, loving & genuine man I know! I love you Daddy!

monticello

Jared sent me this photo with the instructions: "Make this amazing for me."

Apparently I have a reputation. 

And so here goes...

He took this the last day on the Monticello Fire in New Mexico (click photo to enlarge it!). The crew is now on the road back to Albuquerque to await the go ahead to their new assignment (apparently they were already running over on hours so they had to wait in the staging area before officially heading out again).

Continued prayers for all these guys is of course much appreciated. Jared is absolutely loving this... This is what he was made for!

k.m.b.

Since there are so many pictures of the newborn nephew here I thought it only fair to balance out the Jack-ness with the increasing levels of cute as demonstrated by Mr. Kamdyn. I borrowed these from Andrea's page so you could all revel in the adorability. She also posted a video clip of him laughing and squealing at the top of his strong little baby lungs but I have no idea how to download videos from Facebook. Trust me though... This kid is winning the "Cutest-Almost-One-Year-Old" contest hands down!

slacker

I've been such a hack writer lately! Work is finally picking up for the season (and how!) and I feel like it has been kind of owning my life lately. Then of course in my free time I'm trying like mad to get ready for Brigette and Mac to come visit for Laura and John's wedding on the 25th!

And in the meantime, getting some Jack action in too of course.

smoke and mirrors

Talked to Jared tonight for a little while... He is in absolute seventh heaven out there in the New Mexico fires (except for realizing that he hates the desert - good thing he lives in Portland) and sent me this photo from the road. He may be in New Mexico but these are the plumes of smoke coming from the Arizona Wallow Fire clouding the sunset in the evening sky.

I am so proud of him.

(photo by Jared "Mohawk/Doc" Bandor)

the wee one

It's hard to believe that Jack will be four weeks old tomorrow! He's already getting bigger and stronger and more handsome... I probably took about a hundred pictures of him today. Laura and I had lunch at Deschutes which turned into hanging out and waiting for John to join us, which turned into walking around downtown and showing off the little soybean at LRT, which turned into heading back to their apartment and playing with the dogs, John ordering us Chinese food and pouring glasses of pinot while we played with the baby and he met some friends to watch a basketball game. What a lovely day! Laura and I have a habit of turning "lunch" into "the next 6-9 hours" as we tend to lose track of time whenever we're together. It's an MO we're pretty happy with actually (and Jack doesn't seem to mind either).

(photo by Laura)

candid

But really, do you know how hard it is to get a candid shot of Dean?

(photo taken at Journeys right before Jared got called to fire! yay!)

awesome people hanging out together

You don't get much cooler than Paul Newman hanging out with Clint Eastwood.

(first photo reposted from Awesome People Hanging Out Together)

tattoo

Really love the simplicity of this tattoo. It's just a wisp, barely there at all. I like that.

(via A Cup Of Jo)

fire man.

You can't tell too much from the picture, but what was the only downside to Jared getting dispatched to the first fire of the season Sunday night? That wicked sunburn only barely visible after some light photo editing. I'm guessing heading into the flames pre-heated is the less than ideal but he made sure to drink a lot of water in an attempt to re-hydrate his sun-dried self.

But more importantly... JARED GOT DISPATCHED TO A FIRE!

All of us were out at Journeys for Happy Hour when Jared's phone rang. It was Alberto, basically the number one crew boss at ASP Fire asking him if he was available - and to be down in Albany, ready to leave for New Mexico at 4:30 the next morning.

Done.

When he came back to the table after the conversation with Alberto he was all but shaking with excitement. He was absolutely beaming.

And so, the season is off and running and fire man is looking at what is so far the biggest fire season in the last decade. Last year was pretty much the worst year to start a career as a wildland firefighter with only 965,620 acres having burned at this time last year. What's 2011's year-to-date acreage? 3,450,882 acres (according to the National Interagency Fire Center).

That boy is in for the time of his life.

dear girls above me

This blog called Dear Girls Above Me is possibly the greatest thing ever. As is the photo above of the guy who writes it sitting in his sink because it's the best place to hear the idiot girls who live above him. Win.

(Oh, and here's a great interview with Charlie, the man behind it all)