My buddy Chris whom I have now officially dubbed the bionic man sent me an article from the NY Times about the Bacon Explosion. 

This little concoction is not for the faint of heart or the vegetarian.  Basically this is a bacon wrapped roll of sausage that is stuffed with bacon.  Yes, you have to head on over to The BBQ Addicts site and see how this is made. 

I am not sure if I will ever smoke something like this but then again I have fried bacon and smoked apple pies.  It just might have to be something we try at the ranch.  Better yet,  I may have to get some of those crazy kids from Planet Texas or Let It Smoke Kookers to give it a try the next time they are out there cooking.

Thanks for the heads up Chris!  I'm sure my heart appreciates the recipe.

Posted by danny at 09:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

On Wednesday January 21st Zoe Clark entered the world and joined the crew. 

Mommy is doing great, Daddy is doing great.  And big brother James and big sister Whitney are beaming!

Denise was one tough cookie through the whole thing.  She was even happy I was there with my camera!

Zoe arrived at 11:32 and hardly even gave us a fight.  She was ready to come out!

Mommy didn't have a real big struggle.  I was super proud of her for being so brave.

Getting to swaddle the babies is my favorite thing to do.  Denise insisted on taking my picture since I do this with a lot of new dads.

Of the three Zoe is the smallest.  Whitney was a little over 7 pounds, James was close to 9 and Zoe came in at 6.6

My favorite attribute are the giant claw toes.  She takes after her daddy there!  They come in handy like an extra set of hands.

Who doesn't like getting pampered. 

She looks just like Whitney and James when they were born.

Whitney and James came to the hospital after school.  Whitney was so excited I thought she was going to explode.  When I picked her up form school she was telling everyone her baby sister was born!

James on the other hand was busy playing it cool.  He didn't want to be overwhelmed with anything.

This is the very moment they saw their little sister for the first time.  It was very sweet to see their faces light up.

Whitney was full of questions.  She wanted to hold the baby soooo badly.

James was was mesmerized that her hair was so soft. 

My little crew all lined up. 

Once the newness was over they started in with the questions and ideas.

James and Whitney are learning that washing your hands is just going to be a part of this new baby thing. 

The baby and Mommy are home today and we are all excited to start having fun with Zoe.  We wanted to thank everyone for their support, kind wishes and prayers.  Denise and I are fortunate to have such a great family, circle of friends, neighbors and clients.  Zoe is a blessing and we know she will make our homes brighter and happier every day. 

Posted by danny at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

We have known Sarah and her family for a long time.  She has always been a great cheerleader for our studio since we started.  Recently her family stopped in to get their portrait done (FINALLY).  It wasn't until AFTER they came back did I realize we never put a preview of their images on the blog.

Its amazing to see how grown up her two daughters are.  It really seams like just a couple years ago they were running aroung the playground at Bethany.  And manners!  Let me tell you, these two girls are the model of lady like.  Their parents should be ultra proud.

We are thrilled they finally came in for a family portrait.  Thanks for being such a cool family Sara!  And thanks for choosing us of that other guy!

Posted by danny at 01:57 PM | Permalink

At our house we try hard to all sit together at the dinner table every night of the week.  Its not that we are ultra strict about this but the kids eat better, we get to visit with them at the end of the day, and it just feels good to be a family.  Now every night is not supper with Wally and the Beaver but we still try to make it an organized part of our day. 

For Christmas we bought the kids these two tins of games from Family Time Fun called Dinner Games and Beginner Dinner Games.  Each tin contains a number of laminated cards with quick little games everyone can play while you eat dinner, even our 4 year old.  Some of our recent favorites are "Virtual Hide and Seek" where everyone at the table thinks of a place they would hide in the house.  Each family member at the table has to ask a yes or no question to figure out the secret virtual location.  If you guess it wrong you have to take a sip of milk and move to the next person.  James is actually drinking his milk, which is amazing in itself. 

The games are fun and help kids start great conversations with you at the table.  Since we started playing with the Dinner Games the kids get excited about sitting together and enjoying dinner.  It has really made dinner something we look forward to at night as a special time with the family rather than just another task to get completed before bed.  We highly recommend picking this game up for your family dinner time.

Posted by danny at 06:57 AM | Permalink

This weekend we all headed down to Discovery Green for the first ever Magnificent Seven Ice Sculpture competition.  This was a really cool event put on by those crazy kids at DLG Ice Factory.  

Basically there were 7 world renowned ice sculptors that were given 7 hours to create works of art out of ice.  Each artists was busy working on their piece while entertaining the crowd for the peoples choice award.  It reminded me of the days when we would compete in BBQ cook offs for showmanship. 

Each time we came back to the competition we would see something different. 

These guys were quite entertaining.  They would use all sorts of tools like chainsaws, drills and even electric irons to work on the ice. 

The block that Whitney and James liked the best was the one that was eventually going to be Tinkerbell. 

My favorite was the one that looked like a giant fish!  Each block is about 300 pounds in weight.  They stack them up and seal the seams with dry ice. 

Whitney asked if she could take pictures with our little point and shoot camera.  Obviousely I was tickled that she wanted to do this.  James and mommy went to play on the playground while Whitney and I walked around for photo opportunities.  I showed her a few things about the camera and let her decide what to photograph.  At one point she climbed into the water tree (that was turned off), laid down on her back and took some photographs inside.  When she looked at the images on the camera she was hit by the photo bug.  She got so excited about her image that she couldn't stop smiling. 

It was cool to see her enjoy the same thing I do.   She was proud of herself and appreciated a cool image.  There was no stopping her at this point. 

 You could see the hunt in her images.  She wanted that feeling again of taking a picture that makes you smile.

We all had a great time at Discovery Green.  Thanks goes out to Gonzo and rev. Butter for putting together such a cool event.  You guys make Houston cool!

Posted by danny at 06:46 AM | Permalink

Recently I joined The Station Wagon Forum in order to stay up-to-date on the latest trends of those cutting edge wagon drivers like myself.  I found myself spending time late at night reading up on the history of the wagon and perusing the thousands of photos of other member's wagon whips.   Some of these cars have been taken care of very well.  Others are on the brink of becoming a rat rod. 

In one of the many galleries I came across this gem of an image.  It is an article from a magazine about Wagon Life and ways to make it more comfortable for the "kiddies."

At first glance I thought, WOW!  this is nuts!  Who in their right mind would just stand a kid up in the front seat like that.  Then I flashed back to the Caprice my dad owned and being excited when I could stand up to see out the window.  It was best in the summer because I didn't have to sit on the vinyl seats that stuck to my legs.  I also cannot remember EVER sitting in the back seat of the car.  I guess that was for styrofoam coolers form the U-To Tum and Big Boy Burger wrappers. 

Its amazing how we have grown into such a "safe" society these days.  Looking back at the things we used to do makes me wonder how we ever survived in the first place.  If it wasn't the asbestos in the tiles or the lead paint on the baby crib it was the "Safer-Seat" by Hughes Specialties. 

What really makes me think though is about the things we are doing right now that are kids will look back in thirty years and say, "Man!  remember when our parents actually DRANK Soda!?"  or something along those lines.  Who know,  I don't know what makes a good parent but I am sure we are all screwing something up right now!

Posted by danny at 09:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I know, you thought it was a "real" baby but it is just one of the coolest cars ever built in America!  That's right, the all American family wagon! 

The same year National Lampoons Vacation came out is the same year that this psycho family ride was built.  Our new 1983 Buick LeSabre Estate Wagon is our craziest little family project yet. 

The best thing about this new fun ride is that everyone can cruise in it.  It has a strong V8 engine that smokes a little less than George Burns.  It has a state of the art push button stereo that plays BOTH kinds of music (AM & FM).  Of course the speakers are buzzing more than a freshman at a frat house.  And best of all the third row seat faces backwards so you can catch everyone checking out your dog dish hubcaps! 

We are going to have some real fun with this wagon.  I know most would think, "Hey, how could you make a car like this cooler?"  Well let me tell you, we are going to make this bad ride a real head turning in the community.  The kids are ready to splash a little color to it so Gonzo is going to help me black it out.  After that I am going to lay down some flames and possibly give it that Destruction Derby Look!.  So keep an eye out for the Wagon and give us a shout if you spot it on the road! 

Oh and one last thing, if you see us stranded on the side of the road we will happily give anyone that helps a gift certificate to the studio!

God Bless Texas and God Bless The American Family Truckster!

Posted by danny at 10:30 AM | Permalink

Christmas Eve Whitney lost her first tooth with much excitement and anticipation.  She was so worked up about the possibility of blood and pain, that the whole family was a part of the "extraction!"  We were all in the bathroom together trying to convince Whitney to let me pull the tooth while Denise kept James calm.  James was so upset, he couldn't stop crying in fear that his sister would be hurt.  

After a few words of encouragement Whitney finally let her MOTHER pull the tooth.   There was very little effort needed since Whitney had been wiggling it for about a week.  She could bend it back and forth to point where if she ran too fast the wind would knock the tooth out. 

After the excitement, Whitney was so excited to lose a tooth she couldn't stop looking in the mirror.  She decided that she did not want to put the tooth under her pillow because she wanted to keep the tooth.  The kid is a bit of a pack rat so we are being patient with her. 

A few days later I cooked ribs for the family.  Whitney tried to dig into the rib bone when she suddenly started crying because one of the "Big Ones" made a sound and is loose!  I think that is about the only thing in the world that would stop this kid from eating a rib. 

Whitney is a little confused about the "second set of teeth in my head" thing.  I tried to explain to her that it is easier to lose your tooth than watch your first born lose her first tooth.  She could care less about my sentimental fatherhood moment.  Oh well, on with the new year than.

Posted by danny at 08:19 AM | Permalink