Today was Grace’s 3rd month, um…. 1/4 birthday? Anyway, she is now 3 months old and we caught her tonight giving us a little jibber jabber:
Archive
It is not normal that we get such colors here in Orange County, it makes me miss seeing the colors turn in South Carolina and Iowa.
I asked Heather to go get the mail but she had Grace in her arms… and it is sunny out today… so what else do you do? You grab the little pink sunglasses that are laying in the diaper bag and slap them on your unsuspecting daughter….. I almost wet myself :) She was so cute it was funny.
I received a couple of the Budo Videos Catalogs (www.budovideos.com) last night. Joe, the editor asked for permission to use a couple photos of Marcio Feitosa for an upcoming article. I was pleased to see 3 photos in there and the article was a good one. I was an interview of Marcio where the main focus was on the future of Grace Barra. You should check it out, subscribe to the catalog, there is a lot more in there than gear, the articles are good and getting better. The one thing that I enjoy is at the end of the catalog, they ask a random question to many big named BJJ folks. This one asked people their favorite movie, it was cool to see what Kyra Gracie and Eddie Bravo say is theirs… check it out !
WOW….
I am amazed at the generosity of my friends Luca and Marcelo at Gracie Mag. They have been able to make my photos the cover of 3 of the last 6 issues, and I could not be happier or more proud. This recent cover was a blast to shoot. I arranged to work with Marcelo and Joey Nonaca one weekend but we had rains recently and the otherwise sunny, easily photographed Southern California outdoors was covered in gray. So, we decided to get together for a late lunch to discuss logistics for the shoot when we were completely surprised with a magnificent sunset in San Clemente. The magazine wanted something that showed the California lifestyle and BJJ. We shot up and down the pier and this was the result. I have been looking forward to this magazine ever since I was given the assignment.
Thank you Marcelo for taking the time out of your schedule. Joey was just awesome! He was a great model :) Thank you Luca and Marcelo. Thank you Professor Flavio Almeida for being the person that introduced me to Gracie Barra and the BJJ Lifestyle.
You can take a deeper look at the upcoming issue here.
Today my brother left to return to South Carolina. He was supposed to leave yesterday but (lucky for me, not so lucky for him) his flight was canceled. This gave us another day together :) I was happy to have him out here with us. He was able to train some BJJ, shoot cool guns, spend quality time on XBOX Live, and chilled out watching some movies. He was able to catch up with Heather, Jordan, Aunt B, Uncle Craig, Criffiter and meet his new neice !!! It was a relaxing time all together even though I had grand plans for us. I wanted to do a little BJJ roadtrip to show him the Gracie Barra academies from San Diego to Ventura but we simply did not have the time, and the holiday schedules of many schools got in the way. I miss him a lot but I doubt that I miss him more than his son back in South Carolina.
Thanks for taking your vacation time out here with us Brother !
Uncle Craig invited us out to the Borro Canyon Shooting Park for a little “guy time”. We lined up filled water bottles, pumpkins, clay targets, paper targets, golf balls, cans, and rocks just to blow holes in them. We had a great time out there and were treated to a bunch of nice weapons. We had an AR-15 with a red-dot sight, a Dragunov, a FAL, and some vintage rifles. We also shot some handguns. Scott is pretty handy with the pistols where I have an edge with the rifles. We would have had some HD video had the camera been charged… sorry 
the view on the way out… we are driving on the 71 here.
203 rounds for the AR-15s
Scott
Scott with the AR-15
Craig
More of Scott fiddle-farting around
The scope on this AR-15 was a bit tricky, you had to be in a specific spot in order to see inside… plus, it would focus and zoom. It was sweet when I could see through it
Scott with the Dragunov
Craig firing an AR-15
We even had some time to bowl
This is our little test construction worker… he did not last long at all
Down the scope of a Dragunov
Scope adjustments for the Dragunov
I was firing, Scott was marking my targets
Time for handguns…
Scott is the champ !!!
Busted clay target
We had some friends over to exchange some gifts and to enjoy a nice Christmas Eve dinner. Thanks for joining us Christina, Jared, Anita, Suzanne, Alana, Alexis, Grace, Cooper and Fiona !!
Merry first Christmas Gracie !!!
Today after church, we went to the Block at Orange to meet our friends for a birthday party at Dave and Buster’s. We had a nice meal and some fun in the arcade, Happy Birthday River, but you don’t look a day over 11 ! Just prior to going in, I was asked to snap a couple shots of the family, and here are a couple of my favs. After the lunch, Jordan and Joseph went to the Vans Skatepark… I shot some video there, but I need to edit it.
Jordan sporting his new shirt and making a goofy face (Thanks Jared and Anita for the cool shirt!!!)
Serene being… well…. serene. Oh, and cute
The whole family
I was invited to take photos at the 5th Annual Giardini Christmas Party here in Ladera Ranch. It is a gathering of about 20 or so families that join together over some drinks, appetizers, dessert and gifts being handed out by Santa and Mrs. Claus. This was the first time I have been to a party like this (I know, I am sheltered) but it was a real fun time. The family invited Heather, Grace and Jordan too! Very kind, thank you Rhonda!
Anyway, I brought some fluorescent continuous lights to keep things simple and I just shot away. I was told that everything went very smoothly and that they look forward to including us again next year. We all had a great time, which is easy to do when you are surrounded by plenty of nice people!
Now, for the photos:
Gracie belting out a YAAAAWWWWWN
The Poeschl Family
One of my favorite spontaneous portraits of the night…
And the guests of honor, these people are simply GREAT! They come to homes and events as the Claus Family as a ministry…. they have such love!
Santa’s last delivery… done at last.