When our daughter Catie was battling leukemia and lymphoma we had a lot of help from many people and organizations, and now that she will be celebrating 6 years of remission we remember those people by helping others.  Ryan LaFontaine is also surviving Lymphoma and has taken on the large task of becoming Leukemia and Lymphoma Societie’s “Man Of The Year.” Fund raising to fight blood born cancer is what it’s all about, and he’s doing his part to give back by raising funds. If you would like to help donate for fighting Leukemia and Lymphoma and help Ryan become Man of the year, then please visit thefamilydeal.com He’s raffling off twin Pontiac Solstice convertibles (my boys were drooling over these cars last night) to help raise funds so you may just get a couple nice cars out of it too.

Here’s Ryan telling us his story.

Here’s my daughter Catie, the “Girl of the Year” for 2010. We attended a fund raiser at the LaFontain estate yesterday where she was a gracious guest, looked people in the eye, and shook their hands. We couldn’t be more proud of her.

My bride and her two (taller than her) boys at the party.

A special thanks to the sponsors of the event including The La Fontain Family and CBS Radio in Detroit

Nancy and Chris will be getting married next year in Scotland at the Eilean Donan Castle. It’s the most photographed castle in Scotland and I imagine that it will be just beautiful for their wedding day. For their engagement session they were open to have them taken anywhere as long as their dogs Bleu and Wyatt could join us. So I suggested a location that I would go to study when in college years ago, Gallop Park in Ann Arbor. The mix of the water, bridges, and trees were a great fit as long as the dogs didn’t try to chase after the ducks. Both dogs worked very well for the camera and we had a great time there.

Later we went downtown Ann Arbor for some shots near the Law Diag.  Nancy and Chris were a pleasure to meet and I really had a great time learning about them and capturing them for this wonderful time in their lives.

One final note.  I met Nancy the following day at the  Oakland County Cross Fit where she has been working out with my wife.  I gave the Cross Fit a try for the first time, and let me tell you that I have never worked harder in my life.  I’ll be waiting for the next on-ramp class so that I can gradually work up to the amount of strength needed, because as I type this my arms are sore just from lifting my hands to the keyboard.  I usually run, so using all of the muscles in my body is a foreign task for me.  If you have a local Cross Fit, I highly recommend it.  It will change your life.