How's Annie?

Annie is one of Stephen and Belinda's dogs. I believe Betsy and Annie have a certain wild symaptico that really shown through as the night progressed. ;)

Green Bean

Last cute photo of Harper, I promise. :)

Also, at least two things about this photo are a lie.

Stephen vs. the Potaotes

Apologies for not having a better picture of Stephen -- the focus was subtly off on most of the others I shot.

The trip through Austin wouldn't be complete without writing something about my best friend Stephen. Stephen is my oldest friend -- I've known him since the second grade. The most important (really, only) thing you need to know is that we started talking from the moment we met, and we simply haven't stopped in the nearly thirty years since then.

Actually, the most important thing you, the reader, need to know is that if he offers to grill and bake potatoes for you, you should definitely say yes.

Carson Hope

Carson Hope is Stephen's young daughter. As you can tell in this photo, even at a young age she is quite the creature of manners.

In the Kitchen

In my heart of hearts, I believe that Stephen bought his house on the strength of the reflected light into his kitchen.

Pictured here are Carson (more on her later), Stephen's friend Chris Maynard, and Karen's kid (whose name I can't for the life of me remember).

Mothers & Daughters

Harper is an energetic kid, but Belinda somehow managed to keep up with her. :)

Apologies for some of the soft focus here -- reviewing my images from Stephen's house, I see a lot of focus errors creeping in. Given that the mirror in my camera broke about an hour I left, I think that may be a potential culprit.

Harper Grace

Harper is Stephen's oldest daughter. Along with being extremely well-read for a three year old, she apparently is already trained in preparing homemade ice cream. 2/2!

Now a little bit of photographer wisdom:

Kids are cutest when they're between the ages of 2-4. Too young, and they don't look enough like people to really trigger the cute centers of our brain. Too old, and they look too much like regular people -- they don't hit the 'tiny.. awwwwww' center of the brain anymore.

Harper is in that sweet spot, so she spent the night basically being adorable (and making homemade ice cream).