you make me smile…

you make me giggle….

you are so kind and filled with goodness…

you are so crazy and silly…

you are all boy…

you are the one to always say, “i love you mommy” and “do you need any help?”…

you hug me and i melt…

you take my breath away…

i love you…happy birthday sweet boy…now would you please stop growing?

We just LOVE surprises!
We have been getting way too much sleep lately
Our oldest turned 18 and went away to college
We wanted a little bit more chaos and A LOT more love in our home
We had given away all of our baby paraphernalia and baby gear is just SO much better these days
When you have 3 what’s one more???
I really wanted my own little newborn portrait model
We miss the pitter patter of little feet
More hugs and kisses!!!
It’s been 9 years since I’ve been pregnant and I forgot what it feels like
We miss the teeny tiny baby toes
and we can’t wait to meet our little unexpected blessing!

So it’s no wonder I’ve been taking lots of naps, flaking big time on my blog duties, craving strange foods at all hours of the day and night, and just not quite myself lately!

Introducing baby #4 at 20 weeks, due 10/10/10

I have a confession to make. I have wanted to take a picture of my daughter in the yellow mustard flowers for about 5 years! In California, these flowers bloom like crazy in the end of March. Every, single year I promise myself I am going to get out there and take some pictures of my daughter in the beautiful yellow flowers and I never pull myself together to do it. Well this year I was absolutely DETERMINED to get it done. And I am so pleased with the results! This is my sweet daughter who’s just 13…

Happy Valentine’s Day!

You’re better then the best

I’m lucky just to linger in your light

Cooler than the flip side of my pillow, that’s right

Completely unaware

Nothing can compare to where you send me,

Lets me know that it’s ok, yeah it’s ok

And the moments where my good times start to fade

You make me smile like the sun

Fall out of bed, sing like a bird

Dizzy in my head, spin like a record

Crazy on a Sunday night

You make me dance like a fool

Forget how to breathe

Shine like gold, buzz like a bee

Just the thought of you can drive me wild

Ohh, you make me smile…

This shoot was a while ago, but I just had to share it because it is of my cute sister in law and her gorgeous family! We finally got together to do a shoot of her family at the beach. It was so fun to give them great family pictures and she did such a great job of decorating with them all over her house. I’ll have to post a pic of what she did sometime soon.

Yeah, so I’ve been on a bit of a blogging hiatus lately. They are terrible really, my blogging skills. But I have given myself a new challenge, two challenges actually. One is to blog every day for the next 30 days. Shocking I know, but I figured it’s a good way to get me jump started. I have so many sessions that I never blogged that I am so excited to share, so that will pretty much cover the next 30 days.

The second challenge is what I call Project 52. Last year I completed Project 365 which was to take one picture a day for the entire year. It was hard, very hard. And I did miss a few days here and there, but overall I was very proud of my accomplishment! Mind you these were not fabulous quality photos. Often they were just snapshots taken with my point and shoot and dare I say, the flash! This year, I’m not quite as ambitious. My project this year is to take one picture a week and share it on my blog, hence Project 52. These will be mostly personal pics of my family, etc. I also plan to take some artistic images and share those too. I’ll often highlight composition details and share photo tips and tricks that I use to make my images better. Come along with me and maybe I can teach you some photo tips along the way!

Anyway, enough talk…here’s the first one. I’ll post 3 over the next few days to get myself caught up from January 1st.

My son, using his very favorite gift from Santa!

Dear Clients,

As the crazy, insanely busy holiday season has come to an end, I am overwhelmed by how blessed I am to know you! I am actually sad it is over and now I have to wait a whole year to see some of you. Thank you! I love you! You are all beautiful and unique and I love photographing you and watching your families grow through the years. I am so blessed to have this wonderful career and my business because it allows me to get to know YOU and to see that there is BEAUTY and HAPPINESS and PEACE and LOVE in the world. And that, my friends, makes it all worthwhile. I look forward to many more years with you.

I decided not to send a holiday card to my clients this year…it was just too much and I couldn’t get it done, but I do want to wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy New Year and Merry Everything else that you celebrate! May you celebrate with your families and enjoy love and happiness and peace in the new year. I can’t wait to see you in 2010!

So from my family to yours…

Til next time – Jen

Every year at this time, my kids also have to suffer through the Christmas card photoshoot. Believe me, I KNOW how hard it is. Planning the outfits, shopping for the outfits, finding the location, doing the hair and the makeup, getting everyone ready, keeping everyone happy, and getting the shot. It keeps me grounded and reminds me how much work my clients go through before they even get to the photoshoot!

I’ve had plans for this shoot for a while now and wanted to a sort of “urban” feel to our photos this year. I had the idea in my head and found the perfect spot in Laguna Beach this weekend. I was so excited that I found the perfect spot that I ran out today and bought outfits and did an impromtu shoot. And guess what…it worked! I just love these images of my kids. They make me so happy! My kids were so sweet and good and followed directions and oh I just LOVE them so much.

Til next time – jen

I am posting early today, because I actually have an entire weekend off!!!! This is amazing because I work every weekend and don’t ever really get to enjoy it with my family. We’ll because of the holiday, I took it off. This week was my 19th wedding anniversary (I know, I know…I don’t look that old!) and my hubby and I are off to celebrate. Today we are headed to LA to see Wicked! I am so excited and can’t wait to see what I have heard is a fantastic show. The rest of the weekend will be pretty low key around here, but I’ve got some fun plans up my sleeve. Lots of movies I want to see, some BBQing and maybe an evening walk on the beach. Have a great weekend everyone!