McDermott Christmas extravaganza 2009-12-28

Do you have one of those people in your family who are notoriously bad gift givers? I mean…the good intention is there I guess…but they can just never seem to get it right? Well…I have been lucky enough to live with the worst gift giver on the planet for the last 11 years…and I know it sounds terrible like I am ungreatful…but seriously…year after year..holiday after holiday it was one bad gift after another…even his family comments on it….
for example one year I got a shirt…embroidered mind you…that read ” this is what a cool mom looks like” hey…for future reference I told him that cool moms don’t wear shirts that say stuff like that…and let’s not forget about the size 24W nightshirt with Tweety Bird on it that said “Lucky Chic” I was more mad that he actually thought that was my size than the lucky chic part
and then there was one year I got a shirt that said “stinky Butt” seriously?? what is that…then a couple years ago I got not one BUT TWO silk shirts (picture circa 1989) with sleeves that rolled up in both teal and coral (think Miami Vice) personalized with SjMacky photography…
Finally I told him…STOP BUYING ME STUFF…ESPECIALLY PERSONALIZED STUFF…because it isn’t cheap ya know and I def. wasn’t going to wear it…We honestly haven’t even exchanged gifts for the last few years because…well…I just really didn’t need anything…yes that’s it….
so this year rolls around and my friends kept telling me “I know what your Christmas presents are” and I knew it had to be something bad the way they were saying it.
then I was made to sit down by myself while Jodi carefully captured each agonizing second…because everyone KNEW what was in the box but me….here’s pretty much a condensed version of how it went down…
Jo took this about two seconds after I looked in the box…this is me looking at Bryan like “What the @#$% is this??”

classic…love how the look on my face tells EXACTLY what I am thinking right at this moment

so after it was explained that this was a gag gift I started to feel a little bit better, but I’ll admit it..for about 10 minutes I was the biggest Christmas Scrooge on the face of the earth…I was so ticked that he thought this is something that was “ok” to do…like it was ok to put a hooiser naked trucker chic right above my company name …I told him these will NEVER be worn out it public…but it DID give me a super cute idea that I will blog about later…
sorry blog stalkers…the shirts ARE NOT FOR SALE…lol
me trying to “rock the shirt”…lmao

Christmas eve my sis and her fam came over along with my mom and dad…I cherish this pic of Brady and my dad..My dad has been in a lot of bands over the years and it was fun to see him show Brady how to play the guitar…One thing I will say that I got from my dad is I much prefer taking candids of my family than posed ones where everyone is looking because then when I go back and look at the images I remember exactly how I felt at that moment…When I was a kid I used to get so mad that there were all these pictures he took where no one was looking and somehow I always ended up looking like a kid with special needs…but I appreciate them so much now! I bet my dad would make an awesome wedding photographer! Maybe I should bring him out with me sometime…lol

glad Jodi took the time to wrangle up all the kids and get this pic…they are all getting so old and it’s a rarity to have a picture where they are all looking in the same direction!

and Bryan took this of us and I cannot remember the last time all four of us had our picture taken together…maybe 11 years ago when I got married…not sure…which is funny because my sister, dad and me ALWAYS have a camera on us….anyways I am really glad we snapped this real quick even though it’s cheesy and posed…lol

Bryan was up till 5 wrapping gifts…and I am thanful for that because I literally did not wrap ONE gift this year (mostly because he wouldn’t let me though…lol) notice he’s still sportin his new fav shirt..lol

if you read the post before this you know why I took this picture…a tape bracelet…seriously…there is no sport of “present wrapping”…this just cracks me up

this was probably my favorite thing about this Christmas…this card…I will treasure it always because it makes me laugh everytime I look at it…awhile ago my friend tina found like 10 years worth of old “school pictures” that I had left in my classroom when she moved into it…so as a joke she cut them up and hid them ALL over the house…this was a year ago and I will still open drawers or containers and find pictures of myself…anyways this is a pic bry found and he cut it to make me into the elf…I LOVE when people do stuff like this…especially him because it MEANS something…

this was the inside and it talks of me opening my presents first….I just love how much thought he put into this card and my gifts…it took 11 years…but by golly I just may have broken the man…lol

and since we all know that Bry is a huge fan of the “personalization” of gifts…he felt the need to also get me a Northface Vest with my company name on it…ya know “for all those shoots I do when it’s freezing outside”…lol which is hardly at all…but we won’t tell him that.

and what vest/jacket isn’t complete without a matching SjMacky scarf…lol

I am truly blessed to have such a thoughtful person in my life…he really does have good intentions I guess…lol and what’s really funny is that for like the first 8 years we were married I didn’t like him much…funny how things have a way of working out
my guys… notice he loved his new shirt sooooo much that it is STILL on the next morning…lol and Lyvi made sure to coordinate her and Brady’s outfits “ya know mom…for the pictures” lol what I have I done to my children????

It’s hard to get candids of Lyv because she is always hamming it up

Brady cracked up that Santa wrapped his monster trucks in a root beer box…

what the heck is this face all about?

we played a mean trick on Lyv this year and wrapped up just a bunch of little stupid stuff and hid the one thing we knew she really wanted…I was kind of interested in seeing her reaction to all the silly little presents and she handled it like a champ…like she was excited with what she got and didn’t seem bummed out at ALL that the ONE thing she asked for wasn’t there. SO after cleaning up all the wrapping paper and stuff while wrapping more gifts to take to Lola’s…she discovered that there was one more gift unopened in the dining room….


can you tell she loved it?? It’s a laptop….I will probably regret getting her that shortly…lol

every year after opening gifts at our house we head over to Bryan’s gma’s house…aka “Lola” Lola is old school from the phillipenes..she is one of those ladies that says exactly what’s on her mind…if it looks like you’ve been enjoying one too many holiday treats…she’ll let you know…lol Every year she likes to pile the great grandkids up for a picture and it is always very chatoic and bad…I normally don’t take pics of it…but I was on the sidelines this year documenting what really happens…love the choke hold Lola has on Colin and that no one is really paying attention yet there’s like 6 different cameras going off…classic…

this one’s a little more like what lola wants…but not near as funny in my opinion

I love going to Lola’s because there are so many people there and the house is filled with so much joy and laughter…she really needs more seating though because the family just keeps getting bigger. I also love it because of all the…
interesting characters…

btw he’s single ladies…lol and that IS a wig he’s got on…pretty funny but that’s just how Bry’s side of the family rolls…

a little music…

and lots of good converstation…

These next few images were taken by my 10 year old daughter and I think they are pretty dang good…maybe sjmacky photography will be around much longer than I anticipated…This is Dylan and he only smiles for Lyvi…He yells at me “NO!” when I try to take his pic…even when I am being sneaky…it’s pretty funny

classic uncle Greg being his old crabby self (taken by Lyvi)

Uncle Jim….who has a remarkable resemblance to the Gordman’s Fisherman I think (taken by Lyvi)

here she discovers if she stands in front of a mirror (which by the way she is a PRO at) she can take a pic of herself…there were about 10 more similar to this but in the interest of time I will only torture you with 2 of them!


I love it when AUnt Linda busts out the violin (taken by Lyvi)

Aunt Cissy and Uncle Greg listening to Aunt Linda play the violin (taken by Lyvi)

Usually the day or two after Christmas we end our Christmas celebration marathon either at our house our one of the in-laws…thank goodness it was at AUnt Kel’s this year…our house looked like a tornado had hit Lego Land and blown all the pieces straight into our living room!

Brady was super excited over his cousin’s gift I guess

my kids are so amused by their little cousin Dylan…I am pretty sure he wasn’t even doing anything THAT funny but look at how tickled my kids are in these next two!


We don’t get out to St. Chuck much these days and that’s where all our family lives…so when we see the cousins it’s always amazing how much they’ve grown since we’ve seen them last…Rach just got done listening to Uncle Bryan ask “OMG Rachel When did you get boobs???!!” at the top of his lungs….not something a 6th grader really wants to hear in front of the whole fam….leave it to my husband to bust out inappropriate comments during the opening of gifts…jeesh

gma laughing at Rach turning red over uncle Bry’s inappropriate comment


and last but not least my Christmas wouldn’t be complete without a pic of my trusty companion, Madison…this dog LOVES me and rarely leaves my side when I come over

Anyways thanks for reading about my Christmas…I hope all my clients had a wonderful holiday as well…filled with many unforgetable moments and much love…
stay tuned for the SjMacky 2009 wedding highlight slideshow…I’ve been working on it for like two weeks now and STILL can’t get the images narrowed down…I am being super picky though because I am trying something new… can’t wait to share it!
The downside to winter is I don’t have as many shoots…in fact my next wedding isn’t until March…just saying…so I don’t get any crazy emails asking why I am not posting much…lol

sad but true 2009-12-20

It’s not very often I can say my husband is better than me at something…it really bothers me too…it’s not like I try to be the best at everything we attempt to do here…it just kinda works out that way…lol but the ONE thing he ALWAYS does better than me is wrap gifts…in fact I am not even allowed to wrap gifts…especially gifts that are for others that require leaving the house…
I’ll admit it…I am THE WORST GIFT WRAPPER on the planet…which irks me because I consider myself to be a crafty and sometimes pretty creative person…but when I have to take paper and wrap it around a box…I seriously have problems…my gifts look like a kindergartener has wrapped them…like I am the kind of person that even when the paper doesn’t fit…I will cut off another piece and tape it on there …like it’s ok…what do you mean it’s not ok???…lol well I didn’t really know it wasn’t ok to do that until I married Bryan…none the less I wanted to showcase some of his magnificent pieces this year…he went all out …way beyond the standard criss crossed bows and matching paper…he did some sort of oragami paper folding and taping…lol whatever I am just thankful that it’s one less thing I have to do! Thanks Bryan!!
ok but here’s the deal…he can’t just wrap a present…first the paper has to be carefully chosen…only the really thick kind will do..and it all has to be color coordinated somehow..with matching bows and ribbons…and ideally likes to have the grid on the back…I am not even allowed to pick out the paper for the gifts…ha ha and GOD forbid he run out of tape on his handy dandy “hand bracelet tape dispenser thingie” or lose his long edge he uses to tear the paper….

why, yes, that is indeed a gift made to look like a Fed Ex box and it only took him like 5 hours to do it…I am pretty sure he was experiencing some laundry avoidance behaviors but I couldn’t say anything because after all…he was wrapping ALL the presents…it’s a catch 22 really

so while I had the camera ..(which believe it or not doesn’t happen much at home these days)…out documenting what could be considered Bryan’s best work to date… I thought I’d grab a pic of my kids actually getting along and being sweet with each other (notice Bryan lets Lyvi wrap but not me…that just goes to show how truly awful I am at it)

Then the inevitable happened…While Brady was trying really hard to fill out the label for the gift himself…Lyv was behind him doing the dreaded bunny ears

“stop it LYYYYYYYVIIIIIII…you’re gonna pay for that”…I knew he was already secretly plotting his revenge

“mom get a picture of me with my trophy”

“wait let me kiss it”

“hold on…how’s this?”

what you can’t see is Brady off to the side planning his attack!

“STOOOOOOOOOOP you’re gonna ruin my trophy”

Brady: “Oh yeah…how’d you like a karate chop, Lyvi??!!”
Mom: “BRADY KNOCK IT OFF”

“What?!! I wasn’t doin’ nuthin!!”

“You want sum of dis MOOOOOOMMMMMMMM”

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Lyv jumps in with a sneak attack kick from the back

it’s not a good sign when he makes this face so I knew what was about to happen…

the beatings began


VICTORY…and then mom put down the camera and put everyone in their rooms…and to think this drama lasted all of about two minutes…can you feel for me about what the other 23 hours and 58 minutes of the day are like???

Cassie and Keith: Newlywed shoot 2009-12-23

Cassie is a self proclaimed blog stalker…lol and I had referrals from her before I even ever really formally met her…how cool is that? They were also in a wedding I did this past September (although I totally forgot that they were when I did the shoot….derrrr)
Anyways Cassie and Keith opted to get married in Vegas around Thanksgiving and although she didn’t fly me down …

****SHAMELESS PLUG HERE: I WILL FLY TO WHEREVER YOU WANT TO GET MARRIED…REPEATING…SJMACKY WILL FLY TO ANY DESTINATION TO SHOOT YOUR WEDDING…ESPECIALLY REALLY BEAUTIFUL PLACES WITH CRYSTAL CLEAR WATERS AND WHITE SANDY BEACHES*** lol just kidding…kinda…actually I am going all over the place in 2010 but I will save that for another post…

back to what I was saying…..I still got the priviledge of shooting some pics of her and Keith! I was a little leary at first because I knew the shoot would have to be done indoors and I am more fond of the outdoors for these kinds of shoots…but actually the location couldn’t have worked out better. There were so many cute images that I had a really hard time deciding what to post…but I mean seriously how could they not be cute when the couple looks as good as these guys do…
Thanks Cassie for being such a great stalker and sending business my way. I appreciate it so much and I really enjoyed hanging out with you guys for a few hours last weekend!

Check out a few of my favs from the shoot!:



I iwsh I was better at shooting wide open…I am always so scared the image will be soft or out of foucs but when I get it right…I LOVE it…that’s a goal for me this next year is to practice this more on my primes…





you can’t totally see this in these images but I LOVE that cassie wore her nikes with black socks under her dress while we were doing the shoot…I am so all about the comfort too girl!

def one of my favs



love in an elevator…..and quick because the doors at the 4 seasons are FAST ya’ll

cassie you are so beautiful…seriously I would pay $$$ to look even half as good as you…lol

Best.engagement shoot. EVAHHHH! 2009-12-15

I have been DYING to get this post up for the last week!! Between finishing up my last couple of weddings, shooting more sessions, ordering albums, reprints, working on school projects, going to school performances, Christmas Shopping (don’t even get me started on that one) and actually working another job during the day…I have been so busy. Every night for the last three nights I have SWORN I was gonna get these up…but FINALLY after a large peppermint mocha trio that Bryan brought home for me…I can get it up!
Jen and I had emailed back and forth trying to decide when to do pics…she was torn on wether to do them in the winter (afraid of the BALH-ness that IS Saint Louis after the leaves fall) or wait all the way till spring…I said…well let’s do a mini session now and then a mini one in the spring…that way she had some pics for save-the-dates or Christmas or whatever but if they were kinda BLAH we could have the fresh spring-y looking ones too. When she suggested ice skating…I KNEW I was in for a treat! This was THE MOST fun time I have had on an engagement shoot….ever….that is seriously saying something because as most of my couples will tell you…we normally have fun…but this was a different fun…totally candid moments of them just being them….I have decided that ALL future engagment shoots will be done here at this ice rink…lol…on a serious note though…if you are TRULY wanting more candid expressions…actually DOING something on your shoot is the way to go…maybe bowling…or mini golf…or gosh..I don’t even know…just whatever you like to do where you can be yourself and kinda forget about the camera…the images I got are just priceless…and it’s not because I am tooting my own horn or anything…it’s just that these are actual very real moments…unlike the way it normally is when I am giving direction…grab a cup of coffee and a snack for this one because it’s a doozy…there are about 30 more that I had that I loved…but I had to cut it off at some point…lol

Jen had a lot of troubles getting into her skates…it was almost more of a workout thatn the actual skating!

yes, I totally felt like the papprazzi at first…but it was kinda cool too..






they way they kept looking at each other was so cute
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ok I know I already posted this in the teaser pic…but here’s the story…this crazy guy in a green coat kept skating by them when he KNEW I was trying to take pics (did the guy not realize that the rink belonged to ONLY us right then???Jeesh…lol) ANYWHO I kept having to quickly change my camera rotation and zoom in and out…with my 70-200…almost fully extended…which photographers know when you are dealing with movement can cause a little blur…so I was kinda getting ticked because every time they would come around for me to see them…here the guy would come…like he was practicing for the freakin olympics or something…well Jen and Corey slowed down a bit to do a little spin and right as they were doing that the guy TOTALLY wiped out…and it was sooooo funny…not because he fell…but because he was an ass…I think I peed a little in my pants right then…lol

ice skating is so beautiful because of all the elegance and grace that goes into the moves…see what I mean…Here’s Jen being her most graceful self…


after some serious skating I had to have them “pull over” because I was so nervous that I was getting camera shake from laughing sooooo hard…eyes watering…nose running…serious belly hurting laughing…but the silly-ness that is these two didn’t stop

I should mention here that Jen’s green coat holds some very special meaning. Jen and Corey were high school sweethearts and he gave her this coat in high school (which she can still fit into and I am a little jealous of that) …anyway when he gave it to her there was a poem in the pocket and she just fell in love with him…so I owe the priviledge of shooting this wedding all to this cute little green coat! SWEET!



after we were done here and we were walking to the car, I was like…”hey can we do just a few more”…because like I said…things were happening so fast and I was really worried about the camer shaking…and I am so glad we did because as much fun as we had…and even though I know we are doing another shoot in the spring…I just love how cozy these last ones are and that you see a totally different side of them still though…other than me laying them down…this is still them being themselves…
Jen is amazing to photograph. She is silly and laughing and can totally be herself in front of the camera or she can work it serious like noone’s business….WITHOUT ANY DIRECTION…LOVE that and am so so so dang excited to shoot this wedding…sunset at the World’s Fair Pavillion in October…AWESOME…also I told her that her date (oct. 2nd) was my 2nd most requested date this year (right behind May 8th) and she said “back off bitches” ha ha I thought that was pretty funny!!!

Jennifer and Jeff 2009-12-11

I wish there were more hours in the day so that I could tell you how truly great Jen and Jeff are…but as it stands right now it’s 12:38 and I still have a couple more hours of work to do tonight (so I can post my fabulously funny skating rink engagement shoot) so I will just say this…these two are so perfect for each other…it was a perfect day, although a tad chilly, and their friends fit together with them just so…well…perfectly. I love that Jen considers herself a “budget bride”…she cut corners where she could and got some FABULOUS deals and her wedding was just as spectacular as any of the weddings I have done that haven’t been on ANY budget…She got her dress shipped to her, had the alterations, and didn’t pay more than $200 for all of that! CRAZY right?! And they found the bridesmaids dresses at TJ MAXX for $20… She didn’t buy bouquets for the girls and instead they wore these muff thingies…***sidenote to other photographers*** these items are not called “mufflers” and if you call them that people will laugh at you…trust me on this one..lol
Thanks so much Jen and Jeff for letting me capture your day…I hope you are enjoying your honeymoon while I am left here freezing my tushy off!
Now on to some favs


you probably are looking at this image thinking “why did she put THIS pic on here?!” each image I choose to go on here has special meaning to me…I would think all photographers have emotional attachments to certain moments and for whatever reason…her dad bringing in the bouquets and looking like he had been wrestling with 8 dogs before he came in was pretty funny…

Love Mom looking at Jen…the smile never really left either one of their faces all day!

It’s always normal to be a little weirded out that you have a camera focused on or near you pretty much all day…Jen is so crazy because she thinks she isn’t photgenic…so the first hour I was snapping away she kept looking at me and saying “omg this is so weird”…ha ha but she got over it soon enough and I have to say that Jen is one of the most beautiful people I know… Holly Speaks did her make up and as USUAL it was amazingly pretty and lasted all through the day!

I have way too many favorites to call any one image my favorite, but these two rank pretty high on the list…I love them because it was right when we were leaving to go see Jeff for the first time…look at how HAPPY she is…

Although Jen was on a tight budget…photography was the ONE thing she knew she wanted to pay for (which honestly the WHOLE reason I don’t raise my prices is for this very reason….because then I would miss out on great clients like Jen… so it is so nice to know that I was Jen’s splurge and I felt honored that she chose me)
so since she had a later ceremony and pics were important to her, we met up before the ceremony to do pics and here is a couple of their “first look”…I think that my couples who do this REALLY do not at all regret it and have actually commented that it was MORE special because they got to share a very special moment privately instead of having 200 guests eyeing them and that it’s awesome….just saying…it’s something to think about but I don’t encourage people one way or the other…it’s a personal decision made by you!

VICTORIA CRIPPS…..HOLLLLLLAAAA…if you are looking for a florist she is seriously awesome and so reasonably priced it’s unreal. I made a post about her in July so go to the archives to get her contact info…Jen…being the blog stalker that she is…lol…saw that post and contacted Victoria and I know she was NOT disappointed. I love the feathers and jewels!!




This was one of the most memorable moments of the day for me. We were in the middle of a street downtown and this guy started playing here comes the bride…awww cute and funny…but then he walked down the street towards us and kept getting in our shots and then had to come hang out with us…funny stuff…thankfully I did manage to get one in the angle I wanted without him in it but I thought these two were more fun to post!

I don’t think I had one bad image of these two the entire day…it was hard to decide what to post!

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…. ***remeber these are called MUFFS…not MUFFLERS*** and the funny thing is the bridesmaids had long underwear under their dresses…I will have to try to post a pic of that later because I just realized somehow it didn’t make it into my “blog batch”

the dapper gents looking very GQish here




I love this series because every time they would start laughing you could see their breath…it was so cold!

one may tend to think that it was the alcohol that made everyone so happy and cheery, but seriously…this is how the WHOLE day went…how lucky am I???



cute flower girl alert!

I was told by Jen to be sure that I told Marley that she looked “cool” and not “cute” because she was really going for the “cool” factor and gets a little bent out of shape when people tell her that she is cute!

the ceremony was so cute and the officiant was hilarious…almost every other picture I have of these two look just like this…and it was perfect because it was so “them”

and some more laughing…see…told you…very cute ceremony

Believe it or not this is the first time I have been at a wedding where they threw birdseed and let me just tell you that stuff HURRRRRRRTS when it hits you at 100 mph…lolI got nailed right in the cheek and forehead and it stung for several minutes…





this next series is what I like to call “the many faces of Jen”. Both the best man and Matron of Honor gave the best toasts…and the best man had them play a version of the newlywed game and it was super funny!