Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!!

My family and I would like to thank all of you for your prayers and kind words over this past week. Your support is greatly appreciated and has helped us get through this difficult time. Your calls, emails and comments have moved us in ways that I can't put into words. It amazes me that people I have never even met can be so genuinely concerned for the well being of my family and I.

Thank you all so very much! May God bless each and every one of you.

Good bye Pop... I love you!

Some of you know that my father unexpectedly passed away this past Thursday evening at the young age of 59 years. I first want to thank all of you for your well wishes and for keeping us in your prayers! Your love and support is greatly appreciated by my family and I. It's times like these that a person really finds the value in the friendships that they have developed throughout their life. Thank you all so very much!

I have been going through images trying to get a video slide show ready for the funeral and I can't help but smile as I see so many beautiful memories pop onto the screen. However as quickly as a smile fills my face, it just as quickly transforms itself into tears as I realize that the opportunity to create more beautiful memories with my father is gone. I already miss him more than I know how to express in words.

In a situation such as this, I could either choose to reflect on all of those beautiful moments that define my relationship with my father or I could shut myself off and lock myself in a room and sulk. Well, if my father were still here he would not want me to sit around wasting my time being sad. Rather he would want me to be a good example for my children and he would want me to be strong for my mother and all my siblings.

As many of you know, my family and I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Yellowstone and Jackson Hole this past September. I am extremely thankful that both my mother and father were able to share that experience with Becca, the kids and I. I am so grateful for that time that we had together and that my children were able to spend all that time with their pah-poo!

Rather than list all of the many things that will sadden me about losing my father I decided to list all of the wonderful things that I am grateful for. I quickly found that I couldn't include everything because the list was so long.

I am grateful that my mother and father were companions for the past 34 years.

I am grateful for all the hunting and fishing trips that I spent with my father.

I am grateful that I was able to tell my father about our unborn child before he left us.

I am grateful for all of the wonderful meals that he prepared for us and the recipes that he perfected over the years.

I am grateful for his short buzz cut that would tickle my lips every time I kissed his head and told him goodbye.

I am grateful for all of the times that I heard him say "I love you".

I am grateful for every time that I wrapped my arms around him and told him "I love you".

I am grateful for every time he kissed Bentley and Ayden.

I am grateful for the example that he was in my life, I wouldn't be where I am without him!

I am grateful for all of the lessons that he taught me.

I am grateful for his generosity.

I am grateful for his patience.

I am grateful that he taught me to be respectful.

I am grateful that he didn't put up with me being stupid.

I am grateful for all the things he didn't give me.

I am grateful that as a teenager I got to spend so much time with him on our family's boat.

I am grateful that he taught me how to respect firearms.

I am grateful for all of the Sunday's that we watched football together.

I am grateful that he taught me the meaning of responsibility.

I am grateful that he met my mother.

I am grateful that my mother decided to marry him.

I am grateful that he approved of my wife.

I am grateful that he loved my children.

I am grateful he is my father.

Dad, I'm really going to miss you but I find great comfort knowing that I will see you again. I thank the lord for putting me in his life and he in mine.

It pains me so much to say these words here instead of to his face...

Good bye Pop... I love you!



Here are some recent images of my Pop. I have some older images that I will probably post over the next couple of days.


My two favorite guys on the planet! This is my favorite picture of Ayden and dad together.

Two sharp dressed men.


A quick snap of the kids with Nana and Papoo on our recent trip to Jackson Hole.


This one puts a smile all the way across my face!

The cutest kids... EVER! I may be a little biased.

Ayden and Bentley crack me up... here are some images of them on Thanksgiving.

This grill kills me!



OLIVE-Her... I Love Her :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to take a minute to wish all of my AWESOME clients and blog readers a happy Thanksgiving! Where ever you are, hug your kids... kiss your spouse... call your parents... thank the lord for all that you have!

I hope you all have a very enjoyable, loving, laughable and fattening Thanksgiving!

I thought I would share some images of my family that put a smile on my face.



This is last years xmas card... we are still trying to figure out what we are going to do this year... running out of time!

A sunny Sunday afternoon at the park.

Wow... yesterday was such a beautiful day! My family and I took the opportunity to go to the park and play in the sun! I've been working so much lately so it was nice to take a break and have some family time! Here are some quick shots of the fam.

All I want for Christmas...

Beautiful little 3yo

You probably have been wondering where I've been and why I haven't posted anything to my blog for the last little while... or not. Well, I have been really busy shooting and I haven't been able to keep up with all that's going on. This is a very busy time of year. OK... enough excuses.

Check out this adorable 3yo that I shot about 3 weeks ago. I couldn't believe that she is only 3... she is about the height of a 5yo! If you are in the market for some cool beanie hats for the girls this winter send her mom Danielle and email and tell her that Ryan sent you.

Don't you hate it when...

Don't you hate it when you're surfing the web and you come across a site that has some information you want but in order to access it you are required to register and give them your email address?

Well, I found the site 10MinuteMail.com awhile back and now I use it all the time. It's great when I don't want to give out my email address online and get bombarded with a ton of junk mail.

NO registration required, just click the link to get a temporary email account and it generates one for you. The cool thing is that for a limited time you can access any email that comes into the temporary account. This is very convenient for those pesty confirmation emails that a lot of companies like to send out.

If you try it out leave a comment and let me know what you think.

San Diego shoot

While I was in San Diego last week I did a shoot with two AWESOME people... Louis and Casie... you guys rocked it! Thanks again for all the fun. Thanks to Christian and Dave for helping me set up this shoot. I can't wait for my next shoot in So Cal, I'm dieing to go back soon.

Our vacation is on fire... literally!

As most of you know, my family and are are in the San Diego area on vacation. I spent the day shooting (images will be posted soon) and came back to pick up my family at the hotel so we could hit the beach. On the way to the beach, we saw black smoke billowing into the air about 10 miles inland. We drove over to see what was going on and this is what we saw.









When we finally made it to the beach, we watched the planes skim across the surface of the ocean long enough to fill up and then pull off the water to make another run. It was really fascinating how the pilots were able to repeatedly maneuver their planes across the top of the ocean and back into the air without even coming to a stop.



It was extremely disheartening to witness families packing their cherished belongings into their cars as fast as they could so that they could leave everything that wouldn't fit behind. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who has been or will be impacted by this disaster.