Just another weekend with Shann

It took me a week before I could even think about what happened to me during my weekend with Shann. When he told me he had four events in three days, I thought "that sounds like fun, sure I can help." Little did I know what I had signed up for.

From Friday morning until Monday morning when we woke up to head back to Louisiana, I had a whopping 10 hours of sleep. It all started with an overnight high school graduation party. From there we drove straight to Kansas City, to one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen, for our first wedding of the weekend. We wrapped up the reception at 12:30 a.m. and hit the hotel for some quick shut-eye. We were both a bit taken back by the person checking us in, who explained that we were making his job difficult. If you are keeping track, we had not slept in two days at this point, so we did well by not killing the very un-friendly person.

Our first sleep netted us a much needed seven hours of shut-eye before driving to Springfield, Missouri, for our second wedding of the weekend. At this point we were operating on energy drinks and adrenaline, but we still pulled off some great shots of a very happy, young couple.

We were overwhelmed when we found out we had enough time for a pit-stop at the house to re-fuel with some real food before another late-night graduation party. Our bodies were beginning to wear from the torture of the weekend when we arrived to the very eager, new graduates. Their energy was infectious and it carried us into the morning when we headed home at 4 a.m.

I think I slept (or at least it sure felt like it) for about three hours before it was time to leave Branson and go back to Louisiana. For all of the physical stress, it was great to hang out with my buddy and help capture some memories for everyone involved.

I've come to expect that regardless of how little sleep I get, how much physical pain I end up in, or testing the legal limit of energy drinks I can legally consume, every time I go to Branson..."It's just another weekend with Shann." (He really appreciates that phrase)

Daddies Girl

You've seen it before, the crazy parent who will do whatever it takes to get a photo of their child at a school event. I've seen it before, but earlier this week I caught myself as that parent. Caylee graduated kindergarten and there wasn't a thing in the world that was going to keep me from getting shots of my baby.

Equipped with enough gear to cover a fashion shoot, I quickly realized that all of that gear didn't matter if there were other children and parents in the way. I managed to almost get the shots I would have wanted, sorry to the eight people I trampled trying to get to the stage. :)

I am so proud of my baby, now if I could just slow time down so I can enjoy these moments forever I would be eternally happy.

Reflections

From time to time I reflect on the events of my life. I wonder how I went from the middle of Illinois to traversing the globe. I wonder how in the world I ever decided rock climbing was something I would love to do. I think about the people I've met and the wonderful times we had. I think about how lucky I am to have such a wonderful family.

On Saturday, May 10, I physically reflected on the engine's nose cone of a B-25 Bomber. With it's roots back to the '40s, the B-25 I was flying in was making an appearance at the 2008 "Defenders of Liberty" airshow at Barksdale Air Force Base. What an incredible experience it was to get a bird's eye perspective of the airshow!

To be honest though, it was extremely hot sitting in the bombardiers station. Surrounded by glass, I felt like an ant under a magnifying glass. I couldn't imagine how cold it would have been up at high altitudes on bombing runs. I definitely have a new respect for anyone who ever ventured up to the nose during combat!

If you look closely at the photo you can vaguely make out my reflection from the nose of the aircraft. Can you see it?