a bff, 2 adorable sons and one beautiful location!

Becca and her boys!

halloween party - yet a bit too hot for costumes

the heat just won't go away - but that doesn't change halloween for the little ones! cupcakes still taste as yummy even when the icing is melting down the side of the wrapper!

oh, my how they've grown

i've always felt like my nieces were my own children, especially before having my own, but the feeling continued even after the birth of my girls. It's nice to share such a close relationship with my sister, which has allowed us to love one another's daughters so much! i can't imagine my girls not having their "Aunt Tata," (tata being the name that i called her when i was little!) with each visit we make back to illinois, there are changes in all three of them - their heighth, their personalities, the length of their haircuts, the topics of conversations, the level of "coolness" that they still apply to their once, mind you, VERY cool aunt, (why does that have to fade away?) - all of it, they just keep growing up and there's nothing we can do to stop it!

cheetos little one?

i have to commend my daughter for her willingness to share her beloved cheetos even with the littlest of friends!

a favorite site

one of the things i miss the most living where we do in california, is the ability to hang clothes out on the line to dry - it's something i can still visualize my grandma doing in her backyard and my mother still doing it to this day....and if you pass a house that has laundry on the line, curiousity always gets the best of you as you study the items and colors of the clothing items that they have lined up on their clothesline. i have this one framed in my laundry room at home, my shorts and the twins' dresses which all just happened to be color coordinated that day - really, i didn't do that on purpose... but seeing that picture in the laundry room at home, allows me, for a minute, to smell that freshly dried sun -baked piece of clothing once its completed it's job on the line for the day.

summer day

i love watching my friends' children grow and knowing that each time i see them, there will be more features, both in appearance and personality, that i love about the friend, that are increasingly apparent in the children themselves - it's like you'd pick these little people to be your child's friend, just knowing that they are going to be just as special and likeable as their parent. that is the case with these three who belong to my best friend since junior high. i think i'd have a little photo assistant in her middle child, if we lived closer to one another - he is intrigued with the camera and really takes some priceless pictures.

A proud papa...

A proud Grandpa that is - this is his one and only little grandchild and wow is he smitten with her -- who wouldn't be!?

Introducing Faith..

i was so pleased with her birth announcement and the cute summery, watermelon look of it. those that get this in their mailbox will be sure to smile at such a cute baby!

Faith

i photographed the parents of this little baby girl when they were pregnant and unsure of what the little one would be - chandler or faith -- well, faith is now a precious, smiley, little 5 month old who was a total joy to photograph -- her mom was still getting ready in the other room when i managed to shoot some of these priceless pictures with her giggling and grinning ear to ear --i have to pat myself on the back for making her so full of smiles. we're taking some more tomorrow of faith with her grandpa - what a lucky grandpa to call her his granddaughter.

Welcome Asher

I am finally the owner of a working laptop once again! And while I was "out of the loop," my dear friend Aimee's little bundle of a boy was born at the beginning of the month - welcome Asher James! What a perfect little guy!

Dying over here!!!

It's killing me - I just bought a new laptop and two weeks later, it's in for repair! I am so cursed when it comes to technology - but I insist that I didn't do anything to this one, it just won't install any of the software ---so I am left to use this vintage computer which I don't use for pictures - I have loads of pictures to upload, especially from 4th of July, and I have no where to go with them! Not dealing with my photos each morning is like not being able to have coffee in the morning! Looking forward to getting back into the swing of it once the laptop decides to cooperate with me!

a year older...and more thankful than ever

july 1st, 2008 -- did i forget that i own a blog? i am a whole year older since i last updated -- celebrated my birthday (my shared birthday with my husband, but he has 2 years on me) on sunday -we'll just say i feel 24 still! wishful thinking..actually, i am happy to be older and here and healthy - we were out celebrating on saturday night with friends and as we were driving to our destination, we witnessed a horrible car accident. not sure what got into me, but i was out of the car to help the victims before my husband could even turn around and see me in the back seat. i helped get one girl out of her car and then held another very injured guy's head upright and did my best to keep him awake until the paramedics arrived --the whole event was extremely sobering and alarming - one of the two guys in the car was to get married that following day - could you imagine? i have no idea if they survived and can't seem to shake this concern and horrible feeling for what happened...if i hadn't been with friends, i would have gone straight home to just go into my girls' room and just stare at them -- i remember even inviting them to just come home and stare at them with me! really makes you count your blessings..and those two are my most precious blessings i own! with this holiday weekend approaching, everyone pleeeeeeeease buckle up, stay safe, and drive carefully! above are a few blasts from the past of my little fourth of july babies -time sure does fly!

maddie and the twins

a set of adorable twins and their equally beautiful big sister...another great friend, suzie, from home is the mommy of these three children - i photographed these children when her twins were born and was happy to see them again and to see how much they've grown --the eyes on these little ones will knock you down!

2 old friends, 3 beautiful daughters.

I photographed a family of two childhood friends that married - the girl, Joni, I've known since we were probably 4 and 5 from our grade school days, and the boy, Aaron, well he was that first boyfriend in first grade that every girl always remembers - During our shoot, I reminded him of me being sent to the principal for putting Elmer's glue all over his arm -- Wasn't that just a harmless way of flirting? Apparently not. These two have known each other equally as long as they were neighbors and went to the same grade school too -- how neat to marry a childhood friend, neighbor, and best friend all wrapped up in one! Anway, these two married, (ten years already - congratulations you two!) and created three beautiful little girls - and while I've been thinking back to the early 80's of our childhood, I can't help but reminded of my cherished Holly Hobby dolls when looking at these three dolls themselves.

The Beauty of the "Old" in my Hometown

The Midwest....Oh, how I truly miss "home." Never before have I noticed so much of my hometown than I did during this trip - throughout the trip I searched, and easily found, old buildings, crumbling brick walls, barns with chipped paint and boarded up windows, old brick roads, alleyways with colored doors, vacant train tracks - how I love and miss the "old" in this town. To accomodate 8 appointments, I searched from the day I arrived until the day we drove out of town to the airport - regretting that I didn't see a few spots on the way in instead of on the way out...I'll always be back there howerver so I'll keep those places in mind for the next round. Anyway, with 8 appointments, came various adorable faces! I will add some pictures over the next few days of the different families.

The Fun of a Family Picture

Our dear friends moved back from Illinois to California earlier this fall and we spent an afternoon on Coronado Island together -- a trip to Starbucks to refuel ourselves led to some memorable photographs - It all started with Nickelle getting her coffee labeled "Mikal," and her little one feeding herself a brownie -- then the decision to take some pictures to send home to the fam back in Illinois -- all is well in California mom and dad! (and notice my little one in the background helping to add to the beauty of the picture!-What are those faces she is making???) It was definitely a "had to be there moment" but this is pretty much reality for any mom who has tried to capture the perfect family photograph --these are not so perfect - just true, realistic, and the ones to cherish the most.