california in ten pictures ~albuquerque photographer

several weeks ago i took my oldest son, spencer, with me to visit my wonderful, dearly missed friend chrissi richards who is now stationed on the west coast. woo-hoo!
chrissi has 4 of the most beautiful children on earth (soon to be five) and i couldn't wait to spend some quality time with them all.
i took hundreds of photographs during our four day vacation, but i've narrowed it down to 10 for this blog post. (that was not easy.)







#1- this is what spencer dealt with day and night at the richard's house. the girls were ALL OVER HIM. from the time we were picked up at the airport until the minute we left- this was his life. and don't let his smooshed up expression fool you. he loved it. he was glowing on the inside.

#2- baby number 5 is in there. she is expected to be as beautiful as her three older sisters and older brother. she's a richard's kid- beauty is a given. can't wait to meet her. here's mom picking out some fresh fruit. 5 1/2 months pregnant with her FIFTH, can you believe it?

#3- spencer fielding off another caroline kiss. when is he gonna learn...caroline always wins. you can't fight it son. she'll getcha.



#4- all the kiddos posing for me outside of the mall. it was dusk--practically dark--but my iso's were in the thousands and i was able to get some great shots. i love these kids.

#5- spencer and i are landlocked so when there is a beach nearby--we insist on touching it. chrissi took us to malibu. she warned us that the water would be really cold and we'd probably only want to stick our feet in. as you can tell, spencer had other ideas. this is the first wave hitting him with his shirt off. darn cold was right.





#6- caroline. to know her is to absolutely fall head-over-heels in love with her. never have i met a more friendly, outgoing human being IN MY LIFE (besides her mother. she gets these traits from her mama.) there was a group of adults listening to music on a blanket several yards away from us and at one point i looked over only to see caroline dancing around them. she did this for 5 minutes or so until they were all on their feet dancing with her! this is my favorite picture of the scene, caroline surrounded by her new audience.



#7- i couldn't get my monitor to work and this was taken on accident. i love it. chrissi's pregnant silhouette in the background is so adorable.




#8- spencer and caroline making sandcastles on the beach at dusk....the sky was purple and orange and i couldn't drink it up enough.


#9- accidental gold, again. love the birds in flight.



#10- chrissi.
on september 29, 2002 (not long after we had moved back to albuquerque from austin, tx) i wrote in my prayer journal "....please send more friends my way Lord...." (all of my high school friends had moved away since i'd been gone and my best friend was at work all day. i was a lonely stay at home mom.)
on september 30, 2002 i wrote in my journal "thank you Lord for a friendly chrissi at mcdonald's...."

this friendship means a lot to me. i prayed for it. and less than 24 hours later i received it! chrissi walked up to me at the mcdonald's play place and said, "is my daughter bothering you?" (her two year old was eating my fries. but i promise i was happy to share.)
within a few short seconds of that said to me "i'm new here. do you need friends? i need friends."
i couldn't believe she had just said that. it was SO CRAZY the timing of this. and who the heck is this friendly in real life? and why does she need friends when she has a full table of friends right over there. and really? you want my number?
and just like that i met a new best friend.

and i will end this post with her picture.
such a beautiful soul, inside and out this girl.
so thankful for that prayer. answered.

"we've got more bounce in california than all ya'll combined!"

LOVE YOU RICHARDS CHRIST.

bri.