2007 rolled in with snow and bunnies that play in the parking area next to our house. Looks like they had a lot of fun, doesn't it?

We went to Mono Lake (outside the Tioga Pass entrance to Yosemite) in the wintertime and discovered an icy waterfall formed by a water spout left running, and a phenomenon called "ice flowers" (made 100% out of ice). Jeremy took photos of me shooting some of these things:

February brought the Eagles to the valley again. We ordered a new awesome lens, a 100-400 IS lens ("L" glass, for those into photography to know how cool that is) that allowed us to really start shooting wildlife. I was lucky enough to get to see some calves after just being born, too!

The very coolest part of February was the fact that Britley came into our lives! She was in a not-great living situation in Oklahoma, and we adopted her and had her flown out to Nevada. The plan had been for her to join us in January, but an ice storm in Oklahoma thwarted our plans. So, in February she arrived, nervous and very unsure of us and her new living situation inside the house, being able to sleep on the bed, and up on the couch with us. Oh yeah, and having a big brother (Dante) :)

In March we invested in ghillie suits to try to help with the wildlife photography:

We also did some kayaking and a lot more photography. Sometimes we weren't 100% prepared for the conditions, but we always had fun:

And in March we bought a boat. Not quite the sailboat Jeremy would really like, but it's a start! Here it is coming over the mountains to its new home.

And one day when we were working on it, trying to figure out how to use it, etc., Cameron and Jack (our friends Christi & Nathan's 2 boys) came over to see what was going on. Subsequently Dante tried to give Jack a huge kiss through the fence. I just love this shot:

And on the same day that we got that mast up, an error in judgment was made and this very tall mast (kind of looks small in this photo, due to the wide-angle lens) fell all the way down, right onto my head/left shoulder. It was about 4 days before I could raise my left arm again, but Jeremy's 2nd love did not, however hard she tried, succeed in killing me just yet:

I love Shiraz, which means Jeremy is destined to always drink it too, because everyone who knows me, it seems, knows that I like it and makes sure I always have plenty. This case of different types of Shiraz came from the Sierra Nevada Balalaika Orchestra, as a "thanks" for my taking some photos for them. It was a huge surprise and a wonderful gesture!

And here are just a couple pics of my awesome family:

An example of how the storms look when they roll through the valley. Those buildings you see are large warehouses. Looks ominous, doesn't it?

Dante and Brit also volunteered to help us with chores like cleaning the grates for the grill and pruning trees, too:

May was mostly filled with sailing, hiking and driving to really cool places to take photos:

And at the end of May, we decided the dogs needed a bigger, deeper pool. So, we dug a 14' x 8' x 3' deep (at the deepest point) hole and created a pond/pool they could actually swim in. We think they like it:

In June we headed to Colorado to visit our friends Robin and Kirk (and to meet up with some other photographer friends Mel, Larraine, Scott) and shot the heck out of Rocky Mtn. National Park and other surrounding areas:

(above: Jeremy took a picture of me and our friend Robin, out in a field trying to get pics of some elk. I actually think Robin only came out with me because she knows I'm such an idiot when I am focused on photography that I would completely ignore the fact that I was about to be gored by an angry elk because I was too focused on getting a good shot).

Of course we also shot some wildlife a bit closer to home, too (all but the snake were shot on a trip through Sunrise Pass, which is kind of our "back yard" and also the place they'll now be focusing the search for the missing Steve Fossett):

We also discovered (and subsequently became members and sponsors of) a local wildlife refuge called Animal Ark:

And then at the end of June, Tahoe caught fire. It burned 250 homes and cost $13.5 million to extinguish:

We discovered a new place to hike in July, called Green Lake (we were told there have been bear, as well as mountain lion, sightings, so we eagerly arrived with our cameras, but sadly saw neither):

Jeremy also got a great shot of a coyote after happening upon them at work one early morning:

In July, we flew to St. Kitts (West Indies) to visit with some of Jeremy's best friends, Clayton and Ashley and their near-1-year-old daughter, Savannah Victoria. What an experience! I'd been to the Bahamas before, but this was very unlike where I'd been before. It was gorgeous, but much more "remote" than we expected. We also had an 8-hour layover in Puerto Rico on our way home which, when we were planning our trip in April sounded like a GREAT idea, but in actuality would have been a much better idea on the way TO St. Kitts rather than from. We were exhausted!

(above, Jeremy and Clayton, scuba diving)

(above, Jeremy and I on Nevis, a neighboring island. As you can see, we made sure to stay hydrated. haha)

I did a lot of shooting in the studio in July, and the dogs were always there to keep me company! The best "studio assistants" a person could ask for:

August was the month for weddings! We shot two of them and once again vowed ... no more weddings!!

We also went camping with some friends of ours, and I found out that I won a photo contest I entered and was about to be published for the first time in Nevada Magazine!

(to my pleasant surprise, they also used a photo of mine for an opener for one of their features in this same issue. Finally! Published and paid for it!)

At the end of the month we attended our first ever "Cheetah Run" at Animal Ark (they do this weekly for the cheetah's health, and then open it up to the public once a month. This was their annual Cheetah Challenge + silent auction fundraiser). I'll tell you what, we'd seen cheetahs run on tv, but never experienced anything like this! They are so much faster than we ever anticipated!

We also got pics of some of the other cats while we were there, like this gorgeous leopard:

September was an emotionally charged month, to say the least. Earlier this year, I'd purchased some animal skulls with the intention of doing some "environmental impact" type photos. At this point, I've only shot them in the studio .. the other images just haven't come to me yet.

However, one night while we were driving home, we saw someone hit a coyote and drive off without checking to see if it was even dead. When I looked in the rear view mirror, it was still alive, so Jeremy and I turned, went back, and tried to rescue it. We were going to try to get it to the vet if it was suffering. When we approached it, it tried to stand, but it must have had internal injuries (there was no blood), because it died quickly. It was really upsetting for me. I grew up around animals, I know they die and all of that, but I had never been sitting next to a wild animal with my hand on it when it died. I wanted to take a photo, something - something to get across the fact that we are the ones who are taking away these animals' habitats and homes and natural hunting and traveling paths. I think at first Jeremy thought I was a little nuts when I asked him to wrap the coyote up in a sheet we had in the back of the car, but we took it and shot this photo, and then afterwards we took its body up a ways on Hot Springs Mountain (behind our house) and laid it to rest out in nature. We figured at the very least that was better than letting the poor thing lay on the highway and get run over 'til there was nothing left:

Our friend Jaime (Christi's younger sister) got married:

We had our first snow of the season:

This meant that it was now hot chocolate weather!

Jeremy went to the Reno Air Races (several pilots actually died at them this year .. it was a bad year). I really really dislike air shows, so he went by himeself but got some amazing photos!

And Christi gave birth to her and Nathan's 3rd son, Evan James:

We discovered the way to stop Brit from jumping up and putting her muddy paws on our electronics cabinet by opening the blinds on the window a little so she can look out at the front yard.

October was filled with discovery. I learned about something called flowering tea:

I got to see some cattle dogs in action and resting afterwards:

I took a new portrait photo of my friend and co-worker, Caroline, and also of my friend and Pilates instructor, Karen:

We got some nice dramatic weather, so raced out to Fort Churchill to get some shots for Nevada Magazine (they ended up using one of the photos as an opening photo for their Pony Express story in the January/February '08 issue on newsstands right now):

We also got up early one morning to shoot the sunrise over Red Lake up in Kit Carson Pass, where there was snow and fall colors all in one spot:

Jeremy introduced me to his co-worker, Barb, who is training for the Iditarod. She has beautiful dogs - they are amazing athletes, too. When there is no snow on the ground, she trains them using an ATV. Red Rider (Honda owner's magazine) is supposed to be doing an article on her and her training, using my photography, but so far I've not seen the article.

In mid-October we flew into Wisconsin, spent a few days with Jeremy's family and then drove up to Ontonagon, my home town, to spend some time. I got to show Jeremy where I grew up and some of the sights up there. It was my first time being back there since 1992. For the most part, everything just seemed smaller than I remembered. Like the true geeks that we are, we were online via our wireless connections fireside, having just watched a Lake Superior sunset. It was a pretty cool experience.

While we were in Wisconsin, we discovered Afghani food. Yum! We had a soup called Mashawa and liked it so much that we took a to-go menu so we could remember the name to look up the recipe when we got home. To our great pleasure, we not only found "a" recipe, but we found "the" recipe - from the very restaurant we had it in! So one weekend we made ourselves a little mediterranean feast of mashawa, saffron rice, garlic naan and boti kababs.

November was relatively quiet with a few nice weekend photography excursions, but Jeremy got us tickets to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, which was a way more awesome show than I ever expected! One of the founders of the Orchestra was the lead singer of one of my favorite heavy metal bands from the late '80s/early '90s – Savatage. This music was absolutely incredible and the light show was .. breathtaking, to say the least. And at one point during the show (it was a Christmas concert), they made it snow on us!

And then we rolled on into December, when we were off to get our Christmas tree. In the first spot we stopped, Jeremy got some great shots of some mule deer. Not many trees in this area, so we moved on. What a view, huh? And we're thinking the dogs had fun, too.

An early weekend in December, I got hired to shoot some Christmas portraits. We had the best luck, because a huge storm rolled through the Sierras the night before the shoot, so afterwards we got some great shots up around Lake Tahoe:

And a few days later, I did another Christmas portrait shoot. This one was right up my alley - dog lovers!

My big news for the year was kind of neat. I turned 36 this year, and from mid-May through mid-December, I lost exactly 36 pounds (with the help of my doctor, pilates, lots of cardio, and some diet changes). Having lost that weight, and dropping two pants sizes, I actually started letting Jeremy take pictures of me like he was always trying to do anyway. :)

We got a little more snow mid-December, and I couldn't help but drive around at lunch looking at the scenery. I have to admit, I've never seen a prettier area for snow than the mountains. It adds such an incredible dynamic. That plus the fact that there are so many ranches in the area .. really gorgeous:

A couple friends from the industry came to town and one of them really wanted to meet the dogs, so Jeremy and I took Dante and Brit up to Sparks for the day. After lunch, we took them to the Sparks Marina, which you may have seen on ESPN if you've ever watched the "dock dogs" championships. To say they had a blast is an understatement! And they were definitely tuckered at the end of the day, too.

(above: It was the first time I'd seen a coot out of the water and saw those crazy, crazy feet! Don't they look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book or cartoon??)

And right around Christmas we did some shooting up at the Lake, and also some snowshoeing. Brit went out with us in that fresh powder for the very first time and she went near-insane with joy! Haha. It was a blast to watch her! Dante doesn't enjoy it quite as much, but he puts up with it just to be out with us:

So, that was our 2007. Here's a little sneak peek into how 2008 has been going for us so far:

We hope your 2008 is going great, too!

All our best! Kippy & Jeremy
(and of course Dante & Britley, too).
(picture taken by our friend Christi)