Meet JJ

See this handsome guy?  That's my JJ.

See his t-shirt?  His idea, his design, his clever saying on the back AND he wore it in public.  That's love, people.

This is us having fun.  He's a fun guy.

This was JJ last week.  He was/is suffering from a potentially life-threatening auto-immune disease called Guillain-Barre Syndrome the last few weeks and was finally hospitalized last week after he met with a neurologist and discovered he had no more reflexes (and apparently they may never come back, but they probably will).  I lived at the hospital, leaving only to do some photo shoots and occasionally try to get a bit of work done in the middle of the night while he was knocked out from sleeping pills.  He was constantly in a lot of pain and it was really hard to leave every time.  A day before he was admitted he started experiencing partial facial paralysis and couldn't smile or close his right eye without effort.  The day he was able to smile normally again was an extremely happy one for me .  I may or may not have asked him to smile about a dozen times.

JJ is home now and, while recovery will take several months, his first day home (today) went much better than expected (after a rough morning).  I hope you will forgive any delayed pictures or late emails, but I'm working double time now to make up for this unexpected "vacation."

Let It Snow!

Kelli, since you have been so busy the past few days weeks months year I thought I would do a guest post...

Remember all the fun making Texas Christmas gingerbread houses? I thought a few others might enjoy your work.
Also, please let me know when the shipment of mistletoe arrives so the IT department can pick it up.  Thanks!

- Mr. C.

Helping Haitians help themselves

I'm a firm believer in helping people become self-sustaining.  I believe the best way to help others is to teach them and give them the resources they need to help themselves.

I'm sure many of you have already pulled out your wallets to send help to Haiti or some of the other regions of the world that have recently sustained damage due to natural disasters and I know your generosity is greatly appreciated by many.  The current economy has affected many people, including members in my immediate family, yet people continue to donate their time and money to help those in need.  What a great country we live in that we're able to help so many others!  If you're able and feel so inclined, here's another great way to help.

One of my past grooms (and a close friend for the last 8 years) has helped build an organization called Sustain Haiti.  He recently served a mission for our Church in Florida, where he learned Haitian Creole and frequently interacted with and taught Haitians and is now looking forward to helping them this summer in their homeland.

This is Craig (and his lovely wife Jackie) back in October:

More than 100 BYU students have formed Sustain Haiti, a group dedicated to helping the victims in Haiti. Led by Warner Woodworth – founder of HELP International and Humanitarian Action Research Team – they are graduate and undergraduate students (some speak French or Haitian Creole and some are native citizens of Haiti ) looking to make a difference to those affected by the earthquake in Leogane.

For more information and to make a donation, go to:

http://www.indiegogo.com/Sustain-Haiti

Volunteer!  They're still looking for volunteers and if anyone is interested in going to Haiti to help out you can contact Craig directly at palssonc (at) gmail (dot) com or you can send me a message from my contact page above and I'll forward the email.

You can stay current on the project at their blog:

http://sustainhaiti.blogspot.com/

You can read a short news article here:

http://universe.byu.edu/node/8034

In the past I've been able to travel to the Philippines and Africa to serve in orphanages and I would have never had such an opportunity without the generous donations of others.  Here's a picture of one of my sweet little African orphans.

While I can't show you any pictures of the kids from the Philippines (they had a strict picture policy and I made a promise to the nuns; you can't break a promise made to nuns!), but here's a shot (back when I shot 100% film) of some other cute kids:

Their goals for Sustain Haiti are so practical in helping the people in Leogane become more self-sufficient.  It sounds like such a great opportunity to all involved.  Go here to donate!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and a fun Valentine's Day!  Last minute I decided to get some heart-shaped cookie cutters (like, I got the last heart-shaped anything at Michael's) and since one of them was metal I though it'd be fun to try and make heart-shaped fried eggs (boyfriend's favorite) and heart-shaped french toast bites!  Rounded out with orange juice and super delicious super crispy bacon, just the way he likes it; I prefer mine chewy!

I'd love to find some fun V-day traditions that I can incorporate into the holiday (I'm not a huge fan of too many traditional traditions ).  How did you celebrate??