Erin Fredrichs

singles

As Tracy helps Brian brush his teeth, Abigail waits for her turn to spit while Juliette and Owen share the stool over the bathroom sink. Once pajamas are on and teeth are brushed, the long process of bedtime begins for the Langes. Five hours of sleep is a blessing. Six is a dream come true. With homework keeping them awake until the wee hours of the morning and a school bus waiting to pick up kids at 6:30 every weekday, college students Chad and Tracy Lange have learned to live with little sleep, full schedules and their four children who are all younger than seven-years-old.
  
The on-stage antics of Omega Man hopeful Jonathan Weaver knock pageant organizer Sarah Red and sorority sister Lindsay Lommori off their seats with laughter. Dress rehearsal for the all-male beauty pageant gave the 13 competitors a chance to try out their outfits, practice their talent and size up the other Omega Man hopefuls. "They're doing this for charity," said Weaver. "I like to support good causes and provide some entertainment for UNM students." The show is on Friday at 7 p.m. in the ballroom of the Student Union Builiding at UNM. Proceeds raised by the $3 admission fee are donated to New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
   
Jeremy Little Hoop, left, Jonah Little Hoop and Olando Romero practice their swing on the soccer field at Bernalillo High School. The three are members of the Pueblo All-Stars who will face the Navajo All Stars in the Native American All-Stars game at Isotopes Park on Saturday night.
     
  
Exhausted from a late night at her mom's house, Heidi catches a quick nap against her dad's shoulder in the truck on the drive home from collecting firewood in Livingston, Mont.
  
Children soar above their parents with the help of harnesses and flexible ropes on a featured ride at the Bangor State Fair at Bass Park.
  
"I love shaving," Jakob said as he sheared the peach fuzz from his face. Before the taking testosterone, he used spirit gum to attach his old hair clippings to his face to mimic the look of sideburns.This Ohio University senior started college as Rebecca but will graduate as Jakob. During his junior year, Jakob decided to begin the transition he believes he was destined to make his whole life. It was time to stop physically being a woman and become a man.
     
  
With his hands occupied, four-year-old Jacob Lopez of Albuquerque munches on popcorn the only way he can as dancers from the Gathering of Nations swirl around him in preparation for the Grand Entry of Dancers at the Pit. The nation's largest Indian Powwow takes place this weekend at The Pit.
  
Alone with her cat Smiley, Allie chats with her boyfriend Mike on the phone about his day at school. She won’t be finishing her freshman year of high school but hopes to go to Tri-County Joint Vocational High School to get her diploma when her baby is old enough for day care. Two days before Christmas 2003, when her size two jeans would no longer button, fifteen-year-old Allie Blake decided to tell her family the secret she kept for the past six months. She was pregnant. No strangers to teenage pregnancy, Allie's grandmother was 17 when her first child was born and Allie's mother was only 16 when she had Allie, the family embraced the unexpected baby as a blessing.
  
Sam Coulter, 20, reaches for a crimp hold on a granite boulder at U-Mound, a climbing havenin the Sandia foothills, east of Albuquerque. "It's nice to get outdoors and into the mountains, away from the hustle and bustle of the city," Coulter said.
     
  
   
Parker Zimmer, 15, a catcher on the Cimarron High School baseball team, tosses a ball in the air as he reclines in the hammock strung amongst the clothes line behind his family's home. Earlier in the day, he'd accepted a summer job at a ranch near his home as a ranch hand.