He can't deny the beat.

Signature move:  Left leg stomp.  It's always the left leg.  He also pivots with the right, spins, and stomps with the left.  Priceless.

She rocks it.

Smash Cake

Goal for the week.  Catch up on blog.  Very lofty goal.

I decided I wanted to just be a mom and not a photographer for a shoot of Carter.  So I talked my friend Rebekah Westover into doing a quick 5 minute shoot with Carter so he could destroy a cake.  And I just got to watch.  He didn't really want anything to do with the whole thing.  Surprise.  It was fun anyway.

She's a treasure.

Something's Burning.

November 18th.  My phone rang early.  Well, 7ish, but that's early for my phone to be ringing.  I was sound asleep and couldn't find my phone in my groggy state.  It was my mom.  She left a message.  I started to listen and could immediately tell she was crying.  "Oh sh*t.  Who died?"  I thought something had happened to my brother Burk.  That's a phone call we've all anticipated and dreaded for years.
Then I heard her sob the words "the shops on fire".  What the?  What?  "The shop" is my brother-in-laws business.  The one his brother built from the ground up.  Started in his garage.  Everyone in my family (minus Chad) has worked there at some point or another.  We've watched it grow.  We've cursed it's name as we were stuck for hours behind the webbing cutter.
It was like a second home (whether they liked it or not) for my sister and her family.  Her kids grew up there.  She's worked there since the day she married Danny.
I had no idea how bad it was.  I immediately called my sister.
"Kelli.  What the hell?"  We curse when we're stressed.  And when we're not.  Don't judge.
"It's on fire.  Everything's gone."
"I'll be right there."
Dropped Jaida at a neighbor's so she could make it to school, loaded Carter and Mya in the car, and grabbed my camera.
Kelli got a call around 4am from her sister-in-law (wife to the owner and creator of Sportsman's aka "the shop").  John was out of town, but someone had called saying the alarm was going off and the building next door was on fire.  Kelli, being the "I'll fix everything" kind of person she is, headed down to the shop alone.  Alone.
She rounded the corner.
"Holy sh*t.  That's not the building next door.  That's OUR building"
She called Danny.
"Get down here.  Our building is on fire."
"How bad is it?"  he asked.
"IT'S ON FIRE" she screamed "Get your ass down here"
She stood there.  Alone.  And watched her business, a HUGE part of her life, burn to the ground.  Alone.
Family and employees got called and started to arrive.  And they all huddled on the sidewalks and in their cars.  And just watched.  In shock.  In horror.  Numb, really.
It was too hot.  The firemen couldn't go in.  There was glue and aerosol cans and tons and tons of flammable material inside.  It wasn't safe.
It burned.  Everything burned.  It was nothing short of horrific.
I stayed at the shop all day.  There was nothing I could do but just be there.  For her.
And to document what happened.  So one day they can look back and say "look what we went through and look at us now".  Amazing.
Before the building had even quit burning, they had keys to the building next door.  Someone ran to Office Max and bought paper and pens because, well, they had NOTHING.
Imagine owning a business.  A business you created.  From your garage.  And eventually moved into a 10,000 square foot building filled to the ceiling with product and machines and computers and.....
And then nothing.  It's all gone.
There were tears shed.
And then they picked themselves up, got the paper and pens, and started making lists of what to do.  Priorities.  How to rebuild.
It was incredibly inspiring to watch.
Today they are in a different building down the street.  They picked themselves up.
And were shipping product within DAYS of their building burning down.
Incredible.  Absolutely incredible.
The power of the human spirit is bigger than us.  It's bigger than life.
God is good.  He really is.

The Shop.  In pictures.