Who just turned one??

She did! She did! -Little Sarah is a whole year old!

Sarah is just so precious! Not quite walking… but almost there!

…and a girl after my own heart. LOVE the shoes!

Big brother Kyle was a wee shy at first.

You can just see it in here eyes… soon- mobile.

Love it!

Then we were off to the park and got some family shots!

Great shoes -and- awesome baby bling!

Okay Rolita- I know you saw a sneak peak of this at the shoot. EMBRACE the windy, spinning, hair action! EMBRACE it! You’re beautiful!

A very quiet moment- Kyle and I connected. (I also happen to have his bag of fruit snacks sitting on the hood of my lens). Whatever works right??

My absolute FAVORITE FAVORITE FAVORITE!!!! The term “doll baby” comes to mind.

Houston, Texas – Family Session

Little Sarah just turned one year old! To mark the event, her mother Rolita had me come do some portraits as well as shoot Sarah’s 1 year birthday bash. Clever lady eh? She actually got to enjoy the whirlwind of festivities…

Sarah is such a cutie pie. Decisive on who to be nice to (and she has every right to!)- Mommy seems to be numero uno in her book so I was extremely honored that she smiled away for me. I was also told that little Mr. Kyle is a little shy around the camera. They were right- but- Kyle seemed to warm up to me by the end of the session. It may have helped that I hijacked is Cars fruit snacks and kept them as my possession. ☺ There is absolutely nothing wrong about positive incentives are there?? Kids are so funny like that. If only fruit snacks could make everybody so happy. Kyle would sound off a “Vroom”, perform a “vroom like” motion with his fruit snack and then gobble the car up. What made this even more adorable is that he did it with every singe fruit snack!

Rolita and David are busy parents! They are the dynamic due owners and being the head chef of the Redfish Seafood Grill here in Houston. If there is anybody who can recognize how crazy-busy the restaurant industry is, I for sure can, as I am a chef’s wife. ;) I am amazed at how effortlessly they pull off working together and being amazing parents. It was a pleasure meeting you guys- I SO can’t wait to visit the restaurant!

Happy Birthday Sarah!!!!

Bless you Cars fruit snacks!

Two kiddos sitting next to each other longer then .02 seconds *is* harder than it appears.

I loved their expressions here. It makes me smile - priceless.

The weather is just GORGEOUS here in Houston. This is what I miss dearly about California. My girls and I hit up a new local park today- it is so hard to resist this amazing weather as it will soon be disgustingly hot and muggy any day now.

What’s a girl to do when she doesn’t pack the camera? Use her iphone of course.

Jade commanding the wind.

Going in these- I told myself I wasn’t going to go all crazy processing them… but couldn’t resist here. Again- self proclaimed nerdo.

xoxo, r-l

Where ya been? You still alive? Busy?? Slow???
Good.Yes. Oh yes. Never.
Getting all my ducks in a row, as my husband would say… everything has been incredibly busy over here and well, just taking it all one-step at a time.

But more on all that later… for now check out the most adorable brothers!

This is Liam:

This is Laurence:

This was *not* my idea: (but I thank mom and dad for encouraging it!)

I was informed that Dad was here for moral support- but I can’t resist… he must be in some photos too! They are such an adorable family!

CUTE & CUTE!

These little guys were so adventurous!

I love the expression on Tess here.

Any face Liam made is just too precious!

Little Laurence’s tongue showcased a lot of photos this session. Again, love Tess here.

Incredible GORGEOUS LOOOOOONG eyelashes on these boys. (not fair!)

My mostest favorite from the day! Liam was hilarious- after asking to have him blow all the fluffy’s off this dandelion, he looked down and more efficiently picked them all off with his fingers. Duh right? It was obvious easier to do it that way!

Houston, Texas - Family Session

I admit, I have been SPOILED lately… shooting sleeping newborns, adorable couples that will display affection on cue,even the hustle and excitement of the weddings is pure joy to me.
Little men Liam and Laurence made me WORK IT OUT. I of course, say this in the most endearing way! The best cardio I’ve had in months!! This adorable duo was constantly on the move… never stopping. Well, kind of- for some cheddar bunnies… and then OFF they went. Following them was their easygoing mother who is just too cute for words Tess. You can just see how much she just adores her little boys- and I can honestly say, “Who can blame her?” Perhaps I am even spoiled with having two little girly -girls that being a mother of two boys requires an amazingly active mother like Tess. Looking at their images just makes smile and I simply admire how in tune she is with her two boys. Who said girls where made of sugar and spice and everything nice, while boys had snips and snails and puppy dog tails? That is just gibberish- I tell you! This whole mothering thing is just so magical- and those boys are just so sweet.

PS. My faithful blog readers, I promise not to keep you hanging for a couple weeks again.

Some next exciting stuff to come.

I.Can’t.Wait!

Hello Baby!

Baby Taylor is soooo sweet.

I love this one!

Gorgeous Mommy!

Gorgeous Baby!!

and 3 Gorgeous Generations!!!

We are family…

FAVORITE!! They are SO much fun together! What awesome parents to have.

Erica and Chelsea are sisters- and that handsome man in back is their cousin Tony.

Boys will be boys.

League City, Texas - Family Session

Bill - Michelle - Tony - Chelsea - Erica & Baby Taylor

How FUN is this family?!?! Michelle (aka. mom and grandma) contacted me to see if I could come do a session with her amazingly gorgeous daughter and granddaughter as well as some fun family photos. I had no idea what I was walking into… literally. Bill (aka Dad/Grandpa) is quite the jokester and that it might be funny if he answered the door asking where his pizza was. (?) Thankfully he didn’t - but the man is quite HILARIOUS.

The session started off with adorable Baby Taylor and mommy Erica. And then we took the party outside with the whole family. It was another really really windy day in League City… and usually I am a total wimp to wind but it SO worked to our advantage today. All the lovely ladies had beautiful flowing hair so the wind would hit just right in time and you got the whole gentle wind blown effect. (People pay $ to have fans on set– so thank you mother nature!)

“When is the last time you two had your photo taken?” I asked Michelle in regards to she and Bill. The look of guilt– and oh, how I understand. I’ve only been married a fraction of time and am just as guilty so I was more than happy to make to carve out some time just for the happy new grandparents.

I SO loved the dynamics of this family. As a mother of two ladies I could only hope to be as fun, open, and cheerful as this crew as time goes on. The bond between them was awesome to be around. The love… the humor… it all! Watching them showed me what family is and it was an honor being there with them.

I had SO much fun with you all. (Covering my ears, “La -La- La” )

Bill is an awesome grandpa- I love this shot of him taking over baby duties so I could take photos of the other “kids”…

engaged.

talk about the love in her eyes!

What isn’t adorable about this couple??

my favorite!!

in color -and-

…in b&w.

(okay, so i couldn’t decide which of the two to put up… it’s my blog- I’ll do whatever I want!)

love it!

Houston, Texas - Engagement Session

Keri and Brandon are counting the days until their June wedding! How excited are they?! We met up for some pre-session coffee and Keri seemed cool and calm with the fact that all the details were pretty much in order. We had a ton of fun at their shoot- despite how windy it was. Apparently- in Lubbock (where the couple currently lives) wind is the norm, so I was a total wimp.

These two are SO adorable together! Perhaps some loyal blog readers will recognize Brandon’s dimples- he’s the brother of the cute-cute Janica and it was incredible to see siblings with resembling trademarks.

<—- wish they made smilicon’s with dimples!

Shooting with me was the most adorable, super talented Denise from Gisele Photography.
Denis eis a local who found me through my post on bobbi+mikes photo session that they had posted. Crazy how small this world can be at times! Denise commented on my blog- and magic! We were shooting together a few weeks later!!

We had a blast with Keri and Brandon- and CAN’T WAIT for the wedding! (even I am counting the days!!)

i’m a shorty- if i don’t have a step stool you’ll be sure to see me hanging from somewhere.

thanks denise for some fun action shots!

if you are a young lady that had been a young girl, teeny bopper, pre-teen, or teenager in the 90’s you probably should be aware that these guys are BACK!!!!

the whole “boy band thing” (ie. NSync, Backstreet Boys, 98 degrees etc.) was not or nowhere close to how cool the New Kids on the Block were!!! The girls loved them, and the boys totally pretended they didn’t! ha!

Oh ladies- you know you had your cool New Kids button that stated who you “hearted” I was the bad-boy Donnie type of gal- and my best friend hearted Joey. I must say, they still are the cutest of the bunch. Dare to disagree?? You have got to leave on comment on this one to mark your man!!

 and to prove my point about the boys “pretending” not to like them. Once I caught wind of this little reunion, I started singing out loud the tune of “The Right Stuff” to the point my youngest daughter Aja would follow me around like a  little parrot. Sure enough… I hear my husband with the similar echoes. I am sure deep down inside he would like to bust out the chorus… and back peddle the “paper boy dance”.

oh-oh-oh.oh.oh ~ oh-oh-oh.oh. ~ oh-oh-oh.oh.oh ~……the right stuff.

and yikes- danny still is lookin’ weird!

a few years ago- *this* is where it ALL started!!!

an upgrade from 3 to 4!

and this time around Aidan is a BIG brother!

Madeline is just too precious!

Joanne is the next new thing!

Gorgeous College Sweethearts

Santa Clara University, CA - Family Session

About two years ago Joanne was my FIRST family session– way back when I still was shooting FILM!! Can you believe that?! Does that make me old? “Back in the day when I shot film???”

Then it was just she, her husband Tim, and son Aidan… but little did I know at the time I had their first session, she had just found out she was pregnant with her sweet little Madeline. A little after Maddy was born, I announced that I was moving to Texas… and a few years passed.

“it’s been a long time my photographer friend” - the subject line of an email read. I had always known Joanne had an eye and passion for photography but now- she was ready and wanting to take things to the next level… and asking me for advice. Me?? Really? And our relationship converted from mommy friends at the park to something new- and on this fun professional level. Of course, with a total of our combined four children– phone conversations can be well… quite amusing (and loud) if you will.

When I told her I was coming to California to shoot Chris and Brie’s wedding, we arranged some time to shoot together and she came to assist me on Sarah & Matt’s photo session. (Run, Joanne, Run!) And yes, she does happen to be a runner (great form in that photo btw ) and will be running in the Boston Marathon! I am embarrassed that walking up my stairs a few times gets me winded! HA! Joanne was awesome- and I can’t wait to see more of her work in the future. You Bay Area folks keep your eye out for her name- she will soon wow you!

This was my last photo shoot in California, and I couldn’t have asked for a more gorgeous setting. The Santa Clara’s University’s Mission was beautiful and a great place for a photo session. It also happens to be Joanne and Tim’s Alma Mater which made the setting all the more perfect this day.

i heart ca!!

So I am a total NERD and love to check out my blog and web stats… I confess. It’s also just so plain neat.

As I was looking over last months numbers I couldn’t help but stare at the number of countries that had visited by blog- sure I get a few here and there from around the world- but this list tops any of my past months.

(And for the record- the website is only 7 months young…)

Check it out- this is a screen shot from my stats:

Thank you for visiting- whomever you are. Your visits truly mean a lot to me and hope you come back again soon! Please drop a line in my comment boxes and say hello!

PS. And if igoogle translated all these languages- I would have included them as well!

xoxo

So ooookay- not like I am going to be stopped and asked for my autograph

but I can not help but smile that I have been featured on the flosites blog.

flosites created this FANTASTIC blog for me- and I can not even come close to expressing how awesome it was to work with them but would love to formally scream from the rooftops how AMAZING flosites is! Their customer service is outstanding, fun, and upbeat- and flosites totally took the time to make my blog customized to exactly how I envisioned. Wide format- big photos– a lot of bells and whistles.

Check out flosites- and the flosites blog.

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and in other Happy Monday news:

I am excited to post my first wedding slideshow-

CLICK HERE

to take you to Brie & Chris’s wedding.

You will be asked to click “view slideshow” when you get there.

My wonderful blog readers- and prospective clients…

please excuse the minor delay in returning phone and e-mail inquiries. This week I will be catching up as well as posting some exciting new sessions!!

Still to come:

joanne - tim- aidan- madeline

keri & brandon

michelle - bill - chelsea - tony - erica & taylor

can’t wait to show these awesome shoots off!

most calls will be returned this tuesday from 10-3 if you have left a message via voicemail. Look forward to talking with you!!

and I don’t want a completely bore you because blog posts without fun wouldn’t be read

Here are some of my favorite shots while in Santa Cruz:

i love the mohawk drawn on the sign. the dude also has some banana converse on– only in Santa Cruz.

awesome coffee shop!!

this is next door:

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