Inspired Reflections Photography

The blog has moved!

2009-05-08T22:13:00.000-07:00

I am saying goodbye to this old blog and now I have moved on to bigger and better! So from now on come visit me at...
www.cherylyost.com/blog

Still alive!

2009-03-09T12:23:00.000-07:00

For all of you who have been wondering...yes I am still alive and I have sessions to blog! But, I am holding off for a while I work on a new blog!!! The start of the new year always brings perspective looking back over 2008. I am changing things up a bit. You are soon to see a few new changes. Until then I will give you a sneak peek at two sessions, one fun 5th grader and an unbelievably beautiful momma!

Catching up...

2009-01-19T19:22:00.000-08:00

Wow! It has been a long time since I have blogged. Well...let me catch you up on what's been going on here. It has been an emotional few weeks. I received news that one of the families I took Christmas pictures of lost their mom at the beginning of January. My heart was broken as I spent hours talking to the godmother of one of the small boys. She shared with me how Karla (the mom) did almost everything for her family. I didn't even have words to say how sorry I was about their loss. I have realized that my job is one that is more than just taking pictures...I am documenting life. I do hope that as the little boys grow that they will love the last pictures they have with their mommy.

In the same month that I learned of this loss, I also was blessed with the chance to celebrate in new life. I got the chance to photograph a birth. I can not begin to tell you about how much I love birthography. I hope that as this year moves forward that I will have the chance to photograph more births. I know that some of you are thinking "um, there is no way that birth needs to be photographed" but let me assure you that I spend most of my time at the hospital documenting the "G" rated parts of labor and delivery and a lot of time photographing the baby as he/she gets measured, weighed and given a bath. I love photographing the family's first moments with their new baby. Birth is so amazing and everyone has a unique story to tell. I like telling it through my camera. Hopefully I can share some pictures soon.

Well today I had to take some pictures of my little girl. I thought it would be fun to show you the making of a picture. The first picture will show you how not pretty my backyard is and how even in places that are not "beautiful" that beauty can be created. I am also going to share some of the things I love to photograph and why I love them. Everyone of these pictures are taken with the canon 5D and 70-200 2.8 lens (at a 2.8)

I have no problem breaking the "rules" of photography. I love doing it. Sometimes it's in the rule breaking that I find the kind of art that I love.I am by nature a very detailed person and it will show in my work. I love to photograph hands, feet and small little moments. Rarely will I do a photoshoot and not walk away with detail shots.I know that this one is not of her face but I adore the wispy-ness of her long hair. I don't ever want to forget how gorgeous her hair was at 3 with her sun kissed highlights.I am equally as obsessed with pouty faces as I am with the smiling ones. All over our house are pictures of the kids serious faces.

Grateful

2008-12-24T22:05:00.000-08:00

Today I am grateful for many things....

I am grateful for new life and the birth of one of my best friend's babies (she is sleeping soundly in the NICU and doing well) I am grateful for another friend's big news of new life soon to come. I am grateful for 2 sleeping children that are amazing little blessings. I am grateful for my husband who loves me no matter what. I am grateful for my family who will no doubt spoil the kids even though they said they would take it easy this year on the presents. I am grateful for two friends/clients that gave my little girl two presents I only dreamed of getting her. I am grateful for health and the way God always provides what we need. I am grateful for God's gift of his Son...yes for this I am most grateful! This is what Christmas is all about and not for one moment do I want to forget it. I am grateful!

Ro - I hope that even though you will spend this Christmas in the hospital, that it will be great. I am so glad you finally got your girl. She is beautiful and I can only pray that she will grow to be a women of faith and beauty like you! Thank you for letting me do her first photoshoot :) Okay the real one is soon to come...if you do not beat me to it LOL

Blue Sky Sunday

2008-12-21T22:42:00.000-08:00

After church this morning we took the kids to the park for a little hike. It was nice to be out of the house after the rain. So many people were out riding their hourses all over the trails. I know that I could never live in a state that rains all the time! I love the blue sky!

I will try to blog before Christmas, but for now....Merry Christmas!

What I should have said!

2008-12-16T21:54:00.000-08:00

Do you have that one kid in your family that is constantly getting into things? I do! My son was fairly mellow as a toddler. He played with cars and blocks. He loved patterns of colors and shapes...but not my daughter. Oh no, she is into everything! She has successfully broken 3 DVD players, plugged the toilet twice with toilet paper, she colored our couch with permanent marker, put a cordless phone and walkie-talkie in the bathtub. The list goes on... We jokingly call her the destroyer! And in all honesty she breaks things all the time. What do you do with a girl like this?!!!

BTW - I hope to soon be done with this old blogspot blog! The pictures are too small. Hopefully you can read the rules.

just breathe!

2008-12-15T09:21:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I did my last family session for the holidays. Now I am just wrapping up the last few orders, working on my own Christmas cards (it's about time) and baking cookies and caramel popcorn with the kiddos. With every busy season brings excitement and some sadness. I was very excited because it is truly a blessing to photograph families and capture memories. I am very thankful for the business and for clients and friends that trust my vision for photography. The sadness comes after the shooting is done when I am left alone for hours with my laptop and photoshop. I spent hours at the computer while I read facebook updates of friends going to Christmas parties, baking cookies and having fun Christmas shopping. All the while I was at home in a house that was so messy I don't even want to explain what it looked like! I went through a good two weeks of barely leaving my computer. But now it's time for me to once again see and talk to my family and friends and catch up on the loose ends before Christmas.
These pictures are from my last family session. I want to go back and share a few from each session, but for now I will share a few of these :)

I am still alive!

2008-12-10T17:52:00.000-08:00

I am still alive and kicking...maybe not kicking. I think I am shuffling along. I have been so busy doing family sessions. My apologies to my friends that have not heard from me in days :) I promise I will come back to life soon LOL

Well, I still am dying to share all of these sessions that I have been doing, but I want to be able to share all of them and not just a few. So until I have time to post that huge blog I am going to share a few pictures of my favorite little girl.

Taking a blog break!

2008-11-23T22:45:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be taking a break from the blog for a while due to the Christmas rush. I am hitting a busy next two weeks. It will be hard not to post because I have photos I am dying to share!

There is one thing I wanted to let all of you know about, just in case you do not. I love the organization world vision and all they do for children and families around the world. 10% of our profits go to world vision and most of the time the money donated will be matched up to 5 times to feed children all over the world! Doug and I have sponsored kids through world vision since we were dating. It's amazing to watch our 2 kids grow from across the world. I know the holidays are among us and giving is so important this time of year. So this is a my HUGE thank you to my clients who allow me to be able to give what I do...Thank you!!!

www.worldvision.org

Beautiful Family

2008-11-20T15:17:00.000-08:00

What a beautiful family I photographed last weekend. One of my best friends from highschool (who is also a photographer) is pregnant with her 3rd and she was just put on bed rest. This was one of her great families that she sent my way. Thank you Rochelle for sending them to us :) Back to the session...everyone did great. I felt bad that it was hot and the fires were going on in So Cal. The whole group was great walking all over the park to take pictures. Thank you Paul family for having me photograph you!

How could you not love that face?

Full of smiles :)

2008-11-16T21:41:00.000-08:00

This was one of the best family photoshoots ever! Even though they were dressed for the fall and it was 90 degrees and the air was full of smoke (due to the So Cal fires), the session was smooth sailing. Miss "M" was full of smiles and willing to go where ever we wanted. I hope she had a big cookie or some other treat afterwards :) Thankyou "S" family for letting me photograph your beautiful family!

Another year...

2008-11-12T21:07:00.000-08:00

How is it possible that another year has gone by so fast?! My kids are growing faster than I care to mention and I wish I could just freeze time and enjoy them more while they are small. Everyone with small kids knows how crazy life can be with little ones running around. I have tried my best over the past few months to just stop and take moments in. I want to remember the way the sun bounces off of Ryan's blonde hair and the way that Kimmie crinkles her nose when she giggles. I want to hug and kiss them as much as possible now. Doug pointed out to me that we are almost half way to having a teenager....what?!!! How is that possible?! Well, for tonight they are still small and I love them this way.

Happy Birthday to my babies!

BTW- I should mention that their bdays are 1 day apart...good timing!

halloween in review and a bit of news

2008-11-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

7:00 am- rush around like mad trying to get Ry in his costume and leave for school

9:00am- get back home and get Kim in her costume...think about doing my hair and makeup
11:00am- pick Ry up from a min day at school

12:00pm- go trick-or-treating in downtown

1:30pm - doug gets home and I have a nice chat with http://www.leigh-taylor.com/blog/ in florida

3:00pm- go for a drive to get Kim to sleep

5:00pm- sit around trying to decide what to do for the night

6:00pm - head off to church

7:00pm- go to the park by our house to play games

8:00pm- 9:00pm- more trick-or-treating around our nieghborhood

10:00pm- put two tired kids, that ate too much sugar in bed!!!

next day- try to figure out if there is such a thing as a candy hangover in kids? We had at least 3 good crying fits and heard several times "can I have candy?"

Overall it was tons of fun! We counted 361 pieces of candy this morning! What do you do with all of that?

Okay now for the news...I am making some big changes! They will take a while and may affect our website, photocart and email. If you have any questions email me at cherylyost@yahoo.com I can't wait for it to all be done, but until then we are working hard trying to get everything up and running!

A bee and a butterfly...

2008-10-30T18:58:00.001-07:00

Today we did a little mini shoot for Halloween. These girlies were too cute and everyone that passed by us loved the costumes. In the last picture you will see my daughter, but the rest are of two cousins. They are so darling!

This just made me laugh. Her hair and bows are too cute!

one girl and one photographer!

2008-10-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

Okay this girl has to be one of the funnest, cutest kids on the planet. We headed out with 4 different outfits, 3 locations and time to spend together. Anyone who knows me knows that I am just crazy about this girl (and to anyone who is new here, no she's not my child :) My kids adore her and so do I! Thanks Shawna and Jared for letting me play with her!

Future photographer? She took some pictures of me jumping in the sunset too :)

old friends

2008-10-15T22:08:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I got to photograph such a great family. Mary and I went to high school together and it's so fun to see our families now. These shoots are especially fun for me to get a chance to catch up and visit with old friends.Parents will do anything to make their kids smile :) The fall leaves were fun to throw around.

I swear I could photograph Mary all day long!

being a mom...

2008-10-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

Let me set the picture for you...

I so badly needed a work night. Just me, my laptop and a few external hardrives :) When this happens Doug has to cook dinner, clean and take care of our kids. Personally, I like to watch him be mom for a night. He cooked a yummy dinner, gave the kids a bath and then put them to bed. Right as this happens I yell "did you brush their teeth?" Daddy quickly sighs and then gets up to grab the toothbrushes, then puts the kids back to bed. Once they are in bed here's our conversation

me: So hun, how do you like being mommy? (wanting him to say "no way hun, your job is too hard")
Doug: it's fine
me: (thinking in my head, not saying it out loud) it's fine...what are you talking about? My job is hard!
Doug: I just hope I don't start my period
me: (just thinking again) yes! that would be justice!!!

But really...he is great at helping me out :) I just love him!

Back in the swing of things!

2008-10-07T11:30:00.000-07:00

This has been the first week I have felt almost normal since our son's surgery, then my flu. It feels nice to be out and about, going to stores, taking Ry to school and doing sessions again. This weekend was the perfect way to get back in to the swing of things. We had a great session with a wonderful family with some of the kindest boys we have ever met. Here's a few...okay maybe more than a few :)

Bad things come in two...or is it 3?

2008-10-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

Oh, I hope it's 2 and not 3! Our son just got fully recovered from his tonsil and adenoid removal and as my luck would have it...I manged to pick up a yucky bug at a kid's bday party. I just went to the doctors and they gave me a perscription for compazine. I have no idea what it is, but it seems to be helping so far.

Once more give me a few days and I hope we will be back to normal...

two adorable boys

2008-09-28T12:33:00.000-07:00

Long time no blog....let me catch everyone up on what's been going on around here. First, our son is finally feeling better, although the medication from his surgery (tonsil and adenoid removal) is still making him not feel great. I can easily say I am glad it will be all over soon. It is hard to watch your kids in pain! I am getting back in to the swing of work and we be returning a lot of emails and phone calls :)

Now onto the photos! This session was too cute. I encourage everyone who is booking a session with us to take some time and read the "investment" section of our website. It has all kinds of helpful hints to make a session go great. One of the things I write about is clothing. Clothing, location, and light set the stage for a great photoshoot. For this shoot the mom of these cuties took my advice and went to check out the clothing websites of Gap, Old Navy, and Gymboree. There she found clothing inspiration and these outfits that the boys are wearing. I love the details of their outfits. Everything was perfect from their hats to their shoes...not to say that I do not like simple outfits. In fact I photographed these boys back in February in plains jeans with no shirts in a huge field of grass, which I love just the same! If you follow my blog you know I am obsessed with fields.

I really loved everything about this shoot. The boys made me run around a bit after them, but it was totally worth it! Seeing their photos make me wonder what it would have been like to grow up with a brother or sister. They have so much fun together.

It looks like fall is here. What kid does not love throwing leaves?

A bit longer

2008-09-22T04:09:00.000-07:00

Well our son had his tonsils and adenoids taken out on Friday and he did really well. He came home happy and in minimal pain. It looked like a fast road to recovery...but there's a bump in the road. He has not felt well the past 24 hours, has a temp and is getting sick. I am guessing that means we will be heading back to the doctors as soon as they open. It's 4:15 am right now and I am pushing off heading back to the hospital.

So please give us a few extra days and we will back to normal...I hope :) I know a few people have left us messages and we will return calls ASAP.

We'll be out...

2008-09-18T23:23:00.000-07:00

We will be out for a few days. Our son is having his tonsils and adenoids taken out tomorrow morning. Please email us and leave messages still...just know we will call or write back early next week :)
What would a post be without a few pictures? We did a mini shoot of our kids tonight. Once more we use them as location testers. I think I may like this new spot :)

They keep growing!

2008-09-13T15:13:00.000-07:00

It's so amazing to see how much kids change in 1 year. I did this family's pictures 1 year ago and their daughter was just a baby. Now she walks and understands 3 languages! She will be one smart little girl. Now about her parents...I love these people! I have so many stories I could tell about them (mostly the momma) we worked together at Old Navy back in 1997. I feeled so blessed to be able to now capture memories for people that I love. Wu family...I hope you like them!

I need to explain this picture. Her parents said "home alone" and this is what she would do! :) She was so cute!

Time to breathe...

2008-09-09T21:16:00.000-07:00

What a crazy week we had! Our son started his first day at a new private school. I was so scared for him, but he did so well. He already had friends there from church so he felt very comfortable. By the 2nd day of school he walked on to campus like he had been there for years :) I'll post a picture of that soon...as soon as I have time to look at them. These past two weeks have been crazy! I have two more photo shoots to blog in the next few days. Both sessions were great! Since I have one of the sessions open on my computer now, I'll give you a little taste of the fun.

How cute is that outfit?!!! When I post the full blog from this session I will share my thoughts on kid's clothing and why I think it makes all the difference. More to come :)

Little Miss M

2008-09-05T22:46:00.001-07:00

If you follow my blog, you've seen little Miss M before. For this shoot we did something a bit different. We did an urban photo shoot and I think she looks so cute! This gives kids the chance to really bounce around have some fun.

The grateful project

2008-09-02T22:40:00.000-07:00

Today seems like a good day for me to share about the grateful project. A couple of photographers that I know started the "grateful" project with a picture and a story about why they are grateful. This is really good for me. I need to take the time to remember the many reasons I am blessed and grateful. So here is todays...

Today I am grateful for 5 little hands grabbing for cookies. For a kitchen that has no idea what granite is. For being that house where the neighborhood kids show up at and say "what are we going to make today?" For being "that" Mom that always has something handy to bake. For 5 kids running around a small house (not all mine of course :) For the giddiness I feel about the thoughts of the weather cooling, fall decorations, costumes, back to school, leaves changing colors and pumpkins on my big old front porch. I am grateful!

BTW did you notice the cookie with a smile?

Christie and Aki

2008-09-01T14:41:00.000-07:00

What a hot and fun day at the Mission Inn. We really enjoyed spending the day with Christie, Aki and their family and friends. The thing about the day that amazed me was that even though it was hot (like 107 degrees hot and humid) everyone was in such a great mood! The entire bridal party treated us like family. It was seriously a great day!

I got your back...

2008-08-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

Well, our son will be starting school soon and although the thought of this makes me a bit scared, he'll be going to school with this young lady. From the looks of it...I think she'll be watching out for him :)

There will be a lot of blogging going on very soon. We did a wedding at the Mission Inn last weekend and two family photoshoots are going to be done this weekend. So check back soon :) I am sure there will be a new blog about the first day of school and about all the crying I will do. I would like to say that I can hold it all together, but get real! I'll be a sobbing mess!

Christmas in August?

2008-08-22T21:35:00.000-07:00

Yes, that time of year is here when all photographers prepare for the holiday rush! We are no different! August is totally booked and all of you who have told us "you have to take our family pictures for Christmas" now is the time to book! Our last holiday session will be November 15th. Last year completely booked up, so get your date soon :)

We have some great ideas for Christmas gifts for the grandparents/family that have everything. This year our Christmas cards are unbelievably beautiful! Pictures are soon to come of everything!

You can email us at info@inspiredreflectionsphoto.com or call us 626-914-3467 to schedule.

ETA: we have two more sessions available in September, October is still open and 1 session left in November :)

My Day!

2008-08-16T21:08:00.000-07:00

Well today is my day...my birthday! I have to admit I do not like making a big deal about my birthday. I like to keep it simple. So I started the day shopping with my mom in law then we took the kids to Victoria Gardens for lunch and a smidgen more shopping. The kids played in the fountains and we even got a head start on Christmas shopping.

No, Kim was not thrilled about taking this photo :(How about wisdom on the sidewalk? We were walking around and noticed this. Doug wanted to write it down for his therapy practice, but I has a better idea. I photographed it. What's funny is this is so true of my life right now. It looks like we are making a big changes in our lives. Ryan is starting private school soon and although I am excited about him going to school, I will miss having him by my side all day long.

Team Angel

2008-08-10T08:10:00.000-07:00

This story is one that amazes me and melts my heart. It's the story of a parents love for a child (one that was not born to them) and a story of the way God provides for all of our needs. Angel is the little boys name and his mom Sarah is a So Cal photographer. I have been chatting with Sarah for months now and following their story closely after Angel's surgery. Sarah will be having a baby girl this week! Check out their story!

read the story of Angel's life first...
http://www.team-angel.org/angelsstory.html

http://www.team-angel.org/index.html

the blog

http://www.angelswings708.blogspot.com/

Erik and Melissa

2008-08-09T06:04:00.001-07:00

Another beautiful day in Southern California! I really think we got lucky because July could easily be 110 degrees, but it was not that hot. The weather was great. Melissa and Eric are such nice people and their wedding was great. We really enjoyed spending the day with them.
They decided to see eachother before the wedding. This one is in their hotel room right in front of the window.

Where's the instruction manual?

2008-08-07T20:54:00.000-07:00

I first have to say that I LOVE these kids! I get so giddy every time I get a good picture of them to edit and this first one will be a new addition to our house.

There is so much going on in our lives right now. This week has been VBS at church and I volunteered myself to take a few pictures, then make a slide show. I am in the midst of editing a past wedding, getting ready for the Christmas season and trying to make one of my hardest decisions I will make for this coming school year. The big question is...do I home school again or put my boy in 1st grade at the public school? Yuck! I hate making these decisions and wish my kids came home from the hospital with instruction manuals. I feel so "all over the place" about this. I am constantly so amazed about what strong feelings people have and both sides of this issue. I feel that tugging and pulling all over the place. I pray that I make the right choice for our family and our kids.

Okay enough of my ramblings...back to photography. Check back soon to see a new wedding post, Christmas information and maybe even some new sample albums :)

Anytime with Kiri

2008-07-31T20:15:00.000-07:00

I think every girl...or guy should do this! I am talking about anytime photos. These are not for anything special. It's just to go out and get dressed up and be a model for a few hours. I have to say that these photos are so much fun to do! I think Kiri looks great!

Baby Love

2008-07-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

What a sweet little baby! She will be protected by two big brothers. What more can a girl ask for? It was so cute, while we were taking her pictures her brothers kept sneaking in the room. You could tell they really love her.

A big week with big news!

2008-07-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

Well this week has been full of good news for us.

First, we got an email from Azusa Pacific University saying that Doug has been excepted as a teacher! This is such a huge accomplishment for Doug. He worked so hard through school graduating with a 4.0 for his masters (I get to brag because he's my hubby) all while working full time and being a great husband and father.

Second, we just got a phone call from Miller's lab saying that we won 1st place in the black and white category of their contest. There was over 10,000 entries so what a huge compliment to win 1st place! It's kind of funny because there is a cash prize, but it has to go to the family of the children in the picture. So how happy do you think I was that the kids in the photo are ours!?

I am just so thankful for all of this. I don't know if you ever have those times, but I can just see the hand of God working in our lives. For those of you who don't know us and our story. We went through so many hard years while Doug was in school full time and working full time. We barely ever saw him and I asked all the time "is this worth it?" Now I can see all of our sacrifices and hard work paying off. It's a good feeling :)

A day with Denise

2008-07-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun 2nd shooting for my friend Denise Bovee www.denisebovee.com It's always great to go out with another photographer and help out. One of the really interesting things we did was use a video light to get some cool shots of the bridal party. Check out Denise's blog to see the shots. Denise really did a great job at this wedding and like always she is a lot of fun to spend time with :)

my own baby

2008-07-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like I don't photograph them enough. My plan was to take some pictures of my kiddos together but Kim fell down and scratched up her hands and knees right before I started shooting. So needless to say I didn't get pictures of her, but Ryan was willing to play a bit.

Happy Birthday Sis!

2008-07-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

As many of you know this siblings thing is very strange to me (and Doug) you see we have both grown up only children and now that my Mom is remarried we got 1 step brother, 1 sister in law and 1 step sister. Today was my step sister Janelle's birthday. We went over to my mom and step dad's house for a BBQ and some swimming fun. I was glad I has my camera with me because Janelle was totally cute and I couldn't help but to snap a few pictures of her. So, happy b-day sis!!!!

a little update

2008-07-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

Remember this little cuttie from a few weeks ago? Well her parents sent off her headshots to some agents and right away they got responses back, from some of the most well known agents. How exciting! So very soon she will be meeting with the them!

Although this is not a picture we sent to agents, I think her cute squishy smile is just perfect.

They make me laugh!

2008-07-10T22:01:00.000-07:00

7:30 am still sleeping -
Ry "momma, momma"
me "what buddy?"
Ry "when I turn 16 can I have my own car?"
me "what?"
Ry "when I turn 16 will I get my own car with keys and then I can drive?"
me "ummm...if you save up a lot of money...maybe"
Ry "I already have a lot of money...in my piggy bank...can I drive where ever I want?"
me "NO!!!!"
Kids are too funny! How does that pop in his head first thing when he wakes up?

How was your 4th?

2008-07-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

Our 4th of July was so much fun! We did the normal BBQ, swimming and fireworks show. It was so fun to watch the kids in the pool. They are getting too brave this year. Ry was swimming without a lifejacket and Kim with floaties...crazy! Here's a few pictures.

No life jacket!!! Ahhhh!

I have this little obsession with my daughter's hair. You can't tell by this pictures how cute it is...but let me tell you it was so cute that tons of people asked how I did it :)

I have always been an only child (Doug too) and when my Mom got married to Steve I got 2 sisters and 1 brother. I have to say we do have fun together

Doing a happy dance!

2008-07-03T16:15:00.001-07:00

We got an email from Miller's lab last night saying that we are part of the round 4 winners for their child/baby photo contest! Now we go on to the final competition. We are so excited! We'll keep you all posted on the results when we hear. For now we are happy to be one of the finalist!

you can see our photo and the other winners here

http://www.millerslab.com/BabyChildContest/rounds.aspx?roundid=4

BTW - my friend Marta Locklear is also one of the finalist of round 3. Her photo is named "curl" It is beautiful! Marta's blog - http://www.martalocklear.com/blog/

Aki and Christie

2008-07-01T21:52:00.001-07:00

Okay I know that I have said this before...but...do we have the most gorgeous clients ?! Aki and Christie were so much fun to photograph. We can't wait to shoot their wedding in August. Thank you Angela for sending them our way :)

I love my friends!

2008-06-26T21:16:00.000-07:00

What a funny night. Right as I am starting to make dinner I can hear someone yelling my name. My friend Michelle came by and said that her and Pam (photographer friends) had some girls in their wedding dresses across the street from my house. So I had to grab my camera and run over to play. I am so glad I did! I am thinking it's time for a So Cal photographer play date :)

Yipee!!!

2008-06-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

I got up this morning, checked my email and found a message from pink ink studio www.pinkinkstudio.net saying that I won 2nd place in the babies competition for last month!!! I won some actions from Nicole Van http://actions.nicholev.com/ and a $50 gift certificate to pink ink studio. I am so happy :) To see the other winners go here http://pinkinkstudios.net/newsletter-press/pinkinkpress-061508.html

Thanks Pink Ink!

when the boys are away...

2008-06-20T20:39:00.000-07:00

The girls will play :) This weekend the boys went camping and the girls are having some "girl time" As soon as the guys left my two girl old girlie looked at me and said "okay lets do make-up now." We put make-up on eachother and then I made her a dress and a matching one for her dolly. I felt proud, my sewing machine has not come out to play in a long time. Today we went out for pedicures and lunch. I love my silly girlie!

mini-me

2008-06-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took the kiddos to story time, like I always do. I found these two pictures in my wallet. One is me at around 2 years old and the other is my daughter 2 years old. I think God gave me a mini-me :)

edited to add a little comparison of our son and Doug. What do you think?

When we go out to play

2008-06-18T08:30:00.001-07:00

Denise www.deniseboveephotography.blogspot.com and I thought of a great idea! We would pack up our kids walk to an open field and take pictures of eachother with our kids. Well that's just not as easy as it sounds! It was an adventure. We both have two year old girls that had to pick up every sharp and dangerous thing they could find. After a short photoshoot we came back to my house and let the kids get back to doing what they do best...playing.

because Sarah said I wouldn't do it...

2008-06-15T21:42:00.000-07:00

My good friend Sarah played a little game on her blog and challenged me to play as well. I was going to fix Sarah's blog up all "cute" and then list it in my blogs I visit. But, we have yet to get together and I wonder if that is because we have 6 kids between the both of us?

Okay here's the game, list 6 quirks about myself...I want to start by saying I have no quirks! The fact that I vacuum our little house 2-3 times a day and clean the bathroom "at least" once is not a quirk...it's perfectly normal. Which brings me to:

Quirk #1 - I vacuum a lot...okay maybe it's too much. I can't explain why I just feel the need to vacuum a lot?! It's bad enough that my kids now ask if they can vacuum as well.

Quirk #2 - I pace...I pace sometimes... okay, almost all the time that I am on the phone (which could explain my size) I am the kind of person that you want to say "Cherie, sit down!" I hate sitting still. Maybe that's one of the many reasons I like photography. It is fast paced. Or I have ADD?

Quirk #3 - I have to sleep with earplugs in or a fan on. I am the world's lightest sleeper and I am always telling Doug "you are breathing too loud when you sleep"

Quirk#4 - I can become instant friends with almost anyone. My close friends tease me about it. I just love people, that's all!

Quirk#5 - I am semi obsessed with the show survivor. We started watching it the 3rd season and I have never missed an episode since then. Even the week that both of my kids were born. I still tuned in with my new babies. My friends know that most of the time I will not answer the phone during survivor...pretty bad huh?

Quirk#6 - hmmm...for the last one I think it would have to be my over obsession with cleaning. I blame it on my Mom! She is quite the cleaner. You could ask any of my friends that I talk to often and within 2-3 minutes of talking with them on the phone I will complain about the disaster my house is. Holly, Adri, Denise, Rochelle is that true? You ladies know it is :) Is my house really a mess? Um...no most of the time it is kind of clean. I do have to admit that I have let go of my clean obsession a bit lately with the goal that I relax and enjoy my kids this summer.

So that's it 6 quirks - now Holly, Denise, Ro, Adri, Angelica want to give it a try on your blogs? Oh and here is Sarah's blog (which I will make cute) http://drinkingfromthesaucer.blogspot.com/ Sarah is a crack up! Read some of her blog...anyone with kids will get a kick out of it!

I am lucky!

2008-06-13T16:09:00.000-07:00

I am so lucky...or I guess blessed is a better way to put it. I swear I get to photograph the most beautiful families! Lisa wanted pictures with her daughter to give to her husband for father's day. This is the 3rd time I have photographed their family and I realize more and more that I love having families come back to me over and over. I love being able to catpture kids growing...I love being able to freeze the short amount of time we have with our kids. It's the best!

The 3rd time...

2008-06-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

This was such a special shoot for us. Brian and Jen were the first couple we ever took engagement pictures of. We learned a lot from working with them (they may not know this yet) during their engagement shoot we learned how to get a couple to relax and have fun in front of the camera. We asked them to kiss at their engagements and they gave each other a quick kiss...Doug and I looked at them and said "okay you have to do that again" right away Brian said "so you are telling us to loosen up." We laughed with them, they probably didn't know how scared we were! The funny thing now is that this was the 3rd shoot we have done with them ( their wedding was the 2nd) and Jen already knew what I wanted her to do right as I started to say something. I just love that!

Isn't this location so beautiful?! When Doug spotted this light I fell in love! Brian and Jen are always great in front of the camera.

Isn't Jen so beautiful pregnant?! She really had that glow about her.

We are so excited for them to become parents! They are going to be great at it!

OPAM?

2008-06-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

Yes that's right I am now doing OPAM! What's OPAM you ask? Well Tara Whitney http://www.tarawhitney.com/ started a little thing called OPAM (one project a month) and asked her blog readers to join in on the fun. She did her first one last month and I didn't do it. So this month I thought I would give it a try.

My first project is going to be our bedroom. I use the term bedroom loosely because our bedroom is most likely the same size as your closets. Before getting into that I should give you a back up story about us. I met Doug when we were 19 years old at church. We met, fell in love, 10 months later we were engaged and 11 months after the engagement we were married. I have to admit that life might have been easier if we would have finished school had our "careers" then got married. But, that's not how we did it :) At 22 I was pregnant with our 1st child, 23 when he was born. The birth of Ryan kicked Doug into high gear to finish school. So he plowed through it while working full time and graduated with a 3.8...not too bad for a couple of kids huh? We were so poor but our parents helped us out and I stayed at home with Ry. Two years later Doug was working on his master's and surprise #2, I am pregnant! When Kim was born Doug was going to school full time, working full time and doing an internship on top of that. We did not see very much of him. When he finished his master's he graduated with a 4.0...smart guy! So that brings us to this little house. We were so blessed to find this house because we could almost afford the rent while Doug was in school. It's 100 years old, tiny...really tiny. I never thought we would live here that long so it took me a long time to decorate it because, why decorate a house you will not be in for very long...right? 3 years later I am breaking down and decorating it. Our bedroom is just plain sad. I have painted the other rooms and made them pretty cute but our bedrooms is the catch-all for everything. Now that will change thanks to Tara I will OPAM this house into cuteness!

Here are my starting pictures. I am not going to paint because it takes way too long but hopefully it will look better at the end of this month :)

So maybe one day we will be in our dream home with lots of space...but for now this historic house is home. Check back at the end of the month for my finished project!

and then the cops show up...

2008-05-31T22:40:00.000-07:00

Let me set the picture for you I am standing in a field of weeds with my 5D 70-200 lens on (it's pretty big) and a mom and baby wearing white dresses.

Cop - what are you doing?

me - um...taking pictures (I hold up the camera and lens)

Cop - you are standing in a bunch of weeds

me - I know... isn't it beautiful?!

Cop - okay have a good time

this is where I should have walked a biz card over to him and said check out my blog later :)

Well this shoot was so much fun for me and if I could post every picture of the way the light made those beautiful weeds glow I would. Joy and her daughter are so gorgeous! I really am blessed to have this family as part of my life. I wanted to put up a slideshow from their shoot but I am yet to find a good way to do it. I guess this will force me to buy new software :)

I love this set of 3 photos. I wish I could explain how cute it was watching Joy spin her daughter around. Look at her happy face in the 2nd one :)

model material

2008-05-26T21:15:00.000-07:00

This little girl was unbelievably natural in front of the camera! She's only 3 and I can say she is "so" model material. Of course mommy and daddy agree, so a few of these pictures will be sent off to some agents. I can't wait to hear what happens :)

this look is my fave!

I love a cute "pout" face

Love my location testers

2008-05-25T14:50:00.000-07:00

My poor kids! I drag them all over the place looking for new locations. I think I found a new place that I love!!! This is one of those new housing developments that is on hold because of the housing market. I find the funniest places to take pictures. The fun thing is when most people call me for family pictures or their child's pictures they think we will go to a park. Don't get me wrong, parks can be great but there are so many places out there to take pictures that make really original art work.

Today was good :)

2008-05-18T21:38:00.000-07:00

I am not sure why today was so great for me. We went to church in the morning and had some new friends join us. Then we went home had lunch and took the kids to Grandma and Grandpa's for some swimming fun in the 105 degree heat. Doug and I came back home and got some work done then headed back to the Grandparent's house where my mom made a killer BBQ. After that we finished up the night by going to the local Oak Tree Festival. Where our son successfully won two goldfish in the ping-pong toss game and we enjoyed some soft serve ice cream. The goldfish are happily swimming in their fish tank now :) Like I said I am not sure why it was so great but there's something about the anticipation of summer that I love...maybe it's remembering how much fun summer is as a kid. I can't wait to see our kids enjoy this summer.

Ty and Katie

2008-05-17T13:55:00.001-07:00

What a beautiful and sunny day in Pasadena. I really thought that it was going to be raining because that morning it was cloudy and misting outside, then the clouds parted just in time to take pictures and enjoy the wedding. Ty and Katie are a beautiful couple and so naturally romantic with each other. I am lucky that Sarah K Chen http://www.sarahkchen.com/ asked me to come along and second shoot for her. Everything about Sarah was calm and kind at the wedding. She is such a talented photographer. Here's a few of my shots from the day...

How do I say thank you?

2008-05-12T21:59:00.000-07:00

How do I thank God enough for my two little gifts? I have to say that this is my new favorite photo of them. We went out to get a few pictures of them for the Gram's mother's day gifts. Well in the midst of taking pictures with the attempt at getting them to both smile at the camera, I made "K" mad telling her to put her skirt down. She closed her eyes and leaned up next to "mr R" who held her....all on his own. They are pretty cuddly most of the time. They are amazing kids. I am so blessed to be able to stay at home with them ( we give up a lot to do it) and homeschool "R" If I could just stop them from growing and keep them this size...I would do it!

sleep, baby sleep

2008-04-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

The best thing about my friends having babies (other than the fact that I get to snuggle the babies and give them back when they cry) is that I get to photograph them! This little girl is the new baby sister to two older sisters and one big brother. They will have the funnest house as these kids grow up. They will never be bored!

I had to take a couple pictures of the older kids playing around. My kiddos love playing at their house.

Kevin and Jenny

2008-04-24T03:06:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day in Beverly Hills. Jenny and Kevin's wedding was gorgeous! Every little detail from the flowers to the candy table (where guest were able to fill up their cute chinese food boxes with candy) looked great. It's so wonderful to be able to capture pictures of what a couple has spent months planning for. We hope you enjoy them!

One of our very favorite things to photograph is details. We notice all kinds of little things like the way a brides hand touches a chair or the grooms arms around his bride. It's not very often durring the wedding day that we stop taking pictures. We are always looking for the little moments that are so special.

Jenny and Kevin wanted to see eachother before the ceremony so they would have more time to see their guests at the reception. We love when couples do this it makes the day so great because they have so much more time to enjoy together.

Jenny and Kevin's flower's were so beautiful! They were done by www.fleuretica.com

Little Men

2008-04-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

These boys were just too cute! We started out in one of my new favorite places then headed over to down town Glendora. They were such troopers, it was a bit chilly outside. I love photographing brothers together!

They do smile :)

2008-04-16T21:28:00.000-07:00

I swear they do smile! I do like their cute grumpy faces as well. I like most of their faces...except for when one of them is throwing a big fit LOL! One of the best things for me is being able to freeze these little moments in time. I feel like it's going by too fast. Maybe it's time for another :)

I do have a Beverly Hills wedding to blog. I will be getting to that soon, so check back!

Erik and Melissa

2008-04-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

Erik and Melissa were such a blast to photograph! They were willing to climb rocks, run up and down the middle of a street and take their shoes off. I am so glad we are shooting their wedding in a few months. What a great couple!

They were too cute playing in the street :)

Photoshop Goodies

2008-03-28T21:38:00.000-07:00

This one is for the photographers...

One of the best things about the photography business is all of the great artists out there. I have a handful of children's photographers that I would be my favorites. On the top of my list is Brenda Acuncius. When I first started photography I had the hardest time making a black and white photo that I loved. Someone told me about her actions for photoshop and I loved them. Brenda recently started a website to sell her actions http://www.actionsbybrenda.com/ Take a look and stop by her blog as well http://www.brendaacuncius.typepad.com/ she is always great inspiration for me :)

Here's two pictures using her actions. The first is using her B/W2 and the second is her color boost.

my little location testers

2008-03-17T23:08:00.000-07:00

In a couple of weeks I have a photoshoot for two little boys and their mom wants some brickwork in the shots. So I grabed my little location testers and headed for downtown. I found a new place that I love. I am so lucky that it's only 4 blocks up the street from me.
I would say that they had a good time taking pictures today and I am dying to have a couple of these printed for our house.

Easter

2008-03-09T08:36:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you how often I hear things like "I need to have pictures taken of my child, but she/he hates going into a studio and taking pictures" Yep, that's most kids. So I create a less painful way to take pictures of your kids. I let them run around and have fun, taking pictures at the same time. This way you get photos that show the real personality of your child.
For little Miss M's pictures we set up an Easter egg hunt in her Grandparent's bakyard. She looked so cute!

A little bit of fun!

2008-03-07T22:22:00.001-08:00

Today one of my best friends and I thought it would be fun to get a couple of pictures of our kids. It was fun and no one cried (with 3 kids that's a amazing)

I love how lovey my kids are with eachother. People ask me all the time "are they really that kind to eachother?" Well, that's a tricky question...the easy answer is yes. They do love to hug alot. Of course they have their moments all day long of making eachother mad :)
my model boy :)

I love this picture. I think it's my fave from the day. I love baby lashes!

Brown eyed girl

2008-02-27T20:41:00.000-08:00

First I have to say I must be nuts because any place I go I am always looking for colored walls...teal being my favorite! So when I saw these walls at our son's T-ball practice I had to bring my camera and my dirty little girl. White pants and 2 year olds do not go together :)

This is the face I get anytime I try to get her to smile at the camera. She must hate the camera by now LOL.

Happy V-Day!!!

2008-02-13T20:05:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share a couple pictures of the kiddos. Whenever I am having a hard time I can look at those cute faces and remember that I am beyond blessed by God. They are so sweet. I am one lucky mommy.

I have been wanting to try piggy hearts with my girlie for so long. Brenda did it with her daughter and I thought this is too cute. I love her blog. http://www.brendaacuncius.typepad.com/

2 Moms, 4 Kids, 1 Photographer and a bag of lollipops

2008-02-03T00:07:00.000-08:00

What a fun shoot I did today! These kids were so cute and the moms were great. They came prepared with a bag of red lollipops. I am not sure how many each kid had or if they took naps after the sugar high. I do know that they had lots of fun.

Soon...

2008-01-23T23:20:00.000-08:00

I have been working all day and some late nights trying to get our new website ready to go. Soon it will be ready to show. I can't wait! Hopefully I will make the big announcement within the next week...so check back!

It's that time again...

2008-01-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

time to make some new years resolutions! I guess I should announce mine, so here we go...
#1 - I want to gain some weight! Yep you heard it right folks, I said I want to gain weight :) I am not bragging about it. I don't like being so skinny.
#2 - do more children's photography
#3 - find amazing locations to shoot at all around my area that I have been missing
#4 - go on a mini vacation with my family and break away from my laptop for a few days
#5 - get my website up and running
#6 - do some Bible studies
#7 - enjoy 2008

I plan on taking more pictures of my own kids this year. I wish they liked to take pictures. I had to bribe them with candy to take these ones.

Sometimes I think of a good idea...

2007-12-28T13:03:00.000-08:00

Then I have to run out and give it a try right away while the idea is fresh in my mind. The problem is my kids don't like my ideas. I had this idea for a picture of my son sitting on the little ladder with my daughter sitting at the foot of it and they would be laughing and smiling together...yeah right. My daughter screamed at my legs the whole time and son was too cold to take pictures so this is all I could get of him looking down at the ground. Once I realized there was no hope for photographing them together I started to take pictures of the trees and other things around me, which was kind of fun and I think I might go out and try that agian...without the kids :)

.childhood.

2007-12-23T23:05:00.000-08:00

I found these pictures today while I was going through my hard drive. You have to love all of those cute faces! She is full of personality!

Just one little picture...

2007-12-13T22:34:00.000-08:00

I am so happy to be finishing up the Christmas season. I ordered some last prints and now I have packaging to do tomorrow. I just need 2 weeks of rest and then I am ready for 2008!!! It sounds crazy to say and I am so happy about it...January is filling up fast, Feb is being booked right now and my website is being made!!!!! It should be a fun year. It's hard to believe this all started just over a year ago. What a blessing this business is :)

Cute, Cute and even more Cuteness

2007-12-03T23:32:00.000-08:00

What darling girls I photographed this weekend. They were full of hugs and smiles. I think my favorite part of their session was following them around the house and in their rooms. For some reason this session has a lot of storyboards, so I have to share them.

Sweet Family

2007-11-24T22:25:00.000-08:00

Today I went out to the clairmont colleges to take Lisa, Byron and little "miss M"s family pictures. Well as it turns out little Miss M wasn't as in to our family pictures idea as the rest of us were. So almost everything is candid. She loved the stairs and ran up and down them a dozen times. I bet she slept well after this shoot! Lisa and Bryon lets get together again soon...not just for family pictures at Christmas time!

Blogging at 1:35am? Strange night!

2007-11-21T01:35:00.000-08:00

I was going to blog earlier and ask for prayer my Dad. He is going in tomorrow morning for possible bi-pass surgery on his heart. I spent the evening at the hospital with my Dad, just crying and talking together. I left the hospital worried and sad, but just hoping for a safe drive home. Well...I almost got home but then was hit by a car running a red light. The good news is I am okay and so was he. It turns out he goes to our old church CCV and he was such a nice young guy. We sat and waited with him for his ride and chit-chated, the cops must have thought we were nuts! I guess I couldn't have asked for a nicer guy to hit me (Nick if you are reading this I am glad you hit me and not some mean guy LOL)

Well I think I should go sit in the bath now because my back is starting to hurt and tomorrow will be a busy day with my Dad going into surgery. I am way more worried about my dad then our car...it can be replaced but my Dad can't. So if you stop by our blog and read this please pray for him. I feel like I could not ask enough people to pray.

*edit on 11-24-07 to say: My Dad is great! When they went into his heart there was no blockages. So he came home and we had thanksgiving together!!! As far as my car...we still don't know anything about it. I guess we'll figure out more after the holiday weekend. Thanks for your prayers!

Joy, Jeff and their cutie!

2007-11-18T07:45:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun at this photoshoot for many reasons...#1 Joy has been one of my best friend's since highschool (she was in 8th grade when I met her) so it's great to know that we've been together through silly teenage fights, marriage and now family life. What a blessing this family is to me. #2 they are so easy to photograph! I even made Joy and Jeff be models for at the end of the shoot!

Here's a few of my models.

Happy Birthday to my munchkins!

2007-11-12T15:39:00.000-08:00

He's 5 today and she turned 2 yesterday. I'll I want to know is where did 5 years go? I swear it was yesterday that I was at the hospital having my little 5lb boy...sniff, sniff... here's a couple of my 5 and 2 year old.

Brian and Jen

2007-11-10T23:55:00.001-08:00

Brian and Jen's wedding was beautiful! They had every little detail planned out perfectly from the decorations to the gifts for out of town guests. I wish I could post all the pictures of the cute things they made like water bottles with custom labels for their wedding and perfectly wraped gift bags. They put so much love and planning into their day and it really showed.

What a fun group of guys. Jen really wanted a jumping picture of the guys and it took a couple shots before we got it. They were good sports in the hot sun. The cell phone shot was all their idea. They had me laughing the whole time.

Christmas Time

2007-11-05T18:41:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again! Time to order Christmas cards. We've been busy with family shoots and I know there's still some of you out there that want family pictures for Christmas. Here's a couple that I have been working on. The pictures and text are just to test out the design. Let us know soon if you would like family photos done.

None of your BEESness!

2007-11-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the cheesy blog title it's all I could think of :) Halloween was fun at our house. We got together with our nieghbors, had dinner...sort of. It was a typical night on our street Gina and I sat by my laptop chit-chating about processing photos, most of the parents tried to keep the kids from getting their costumes dirty or ruined from rolling around on the grass. We enjoyed a nice dinner together then headed out for some trick or treating. Here's a couple of pictures from our day.

Happy Birthday Holly!!!!

2007-10-24T18:01:00.000-07:00

Well Holly since I didn't know it was your birthday earlier in the day, this is all I could come up with on short notice. As you can see we had a couple of out-takes :) My favorite is the one with Kimmie sticking her finger up her nose LOL

I do need to take the time to say how special Holly is to us! Holly and I(Cherie's writting this) went to highschool together. She is such a blessing in my life and I am so thankful that God has brought us to the same church and had us both become photographers. It's not a secret that Donny and Holly are some of my most favorite photographers ever. I can not thank them enough for all the help they give us. You guys are great!
Just in case you want to check out their site it's www.heavenlyportraits.com

This one is for the moms!

2007-10-22T18:54:00.000-07:00

After a challanging day with the kids (you know the ones where they whine and cry all day) I checked my email to find that my friend Angelica had sent to me. It's just what I needed. Thanks Angelica!

Denise

2007-10-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

This photoshoot was full of adventure. For the first time ever I had to say "move there's a snake" Poor pregnant Denise I made her move fast. We had to leave one spot we were shooting at because a car full of guys showed up at Big Dalton and I don't think they were there to enjoy the Glendora mountain side or to take pictures like us LOL. We did have a good time even with bugs, snakes and strange guys.

Denise took a couple of pictures of me too! I was trying to be serious but for those of you who know me you know that's hard to do :) Here's a couple from Denise...

Her work is great http://www.deniseboveephotography.blogspot.com/

My favorite little ones

2007-10-03T22:54:00.000-07:00

We finally got around to doing a photo shoot of the world's cutest kids (at least we think so :) We are making a little album of them. I thought I would share a couple of the album pages with everyone. For those of you parents wondering what to give grandma and grandpa for Christmas I bet this would make them smile :)

Kelly and Phil

2007-09-28T07:53:00.001-07:00

This wedding was a fun one for me because it was filled with friends from the past that I have not seen since I was 13! I think the last time I saw Kelly we were at the river and it was my 13th bday. I guess you could say Kelly has changed a little bit since then. Kelly - you were so much fun to photograph! Phil - thanks for making me work for those smiles :) I had a great time with both of you!

Wu Family

2007-09-06T20:18:00.000-07:00

I have to say that I love this family! It is such a blessing to watch two people date, get married and start a family. Even though years have gone by that I did not get to stay in touch with them it was so great to be able to do their first family pictures. I also love that like myself they love black and white photos.

I love Jordan's expressions as he talks to his daughter. I thought this set of photos looked so cute.

I've been tagged! 8 fun facts!

2007-08-30T19:28:00.000-07:00

I've never been tagged on my blog before and one of my photographer friends tagged me from her blog...so here you go 8 facts about us!

1) A Cherie fact - I love the movie highschool musical! I've seen the 1st and the 2nd more times than I can tell. It's Ryan's fave right now so it gives me good reason to watch it :)

2) Our son just started kindergarten and we are homeschooling him.

3) Our daughter is in to everything and we have to say at least 20 times a day "don't hit the cat!"

4) Cherie fact - I love to do photoshoots at places that I can be kicked off of. What can I say I live on the wild side LOL

5) Our son's best buddy Ethan cut his hair at our house w/out anyone seeing him doing it. I posted pix so you can see it :) He did it one week before kindergarten.

6) We like to compete at weddings and photoshoots to see who can get the "best" shots.

7) We often dream about where this photography business will be in 1 year from now.

8) We will need to go on vacation after these next couple of months. It's the busy season for us, but we really do enjoy it!

So there you go 8 fun facts. Now we can tag a couple of other photographers...Rochelle, Denise, Donny and Holly, Adri, Angelica and George...you're it!

Nathan and Heather

2007-08-28T21:09:00.001-07:00

Heather and Nathan are high school sweethearts, totally in love with each other and it shows! They were such a blast to photograph, always laughing. I really had such a great time with them. I can't wait to do their family pictures one day in the future :) Nathan you said you wanted 4 or 5 right?!

Mike and Corrine

2007-08-19T21:34:00.000-07:00

I have to explain this picture...the Father of the bride gave one of the funniest speeches ever. It was so funny that at one point Corrine just had to put her head down on the table. The entire time that the speeches were being given the sun was setting. Pam and I were dying to get a few pictures of the couple right at sunset. By the time we could get up to take the pictures the sun had just set, but we still got great shots.

What a great wedding and funny rececption. Pam and I had such a great time with these two! It's was fun doing a wedding with some of my best friends there as guests and the rececption kept me laughing the whole night!

Jenny and Ethan

2007-08-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

I love this picture beacuse Jenny took some time out of her wedding day to read proverbs 31. Her room was so beautiful. I loved that window seat.

One of the great things about Jenny is that she was willing to try anything for a picture. I've always wanted to take a picture in a dark hallway and of course Jenny said yes. I took it right before we headed out for the ceremony and it's one of my favorites. Jenny is so beautiful!

Jenny and Ethan's wedding was so amazing! Every detail was perfect. They even had a dragon dance at their reception. I could post so many more pictures and I think I will later. What a fun day to be part of! I loved the Mission Inn http://www.missioninn.com/ what a great place to get married. I would love to go back just to walk around and see everything there.

little man

2007-07-28T21:24:00.000-07:00

I just did a newborn shoot for this cute little man. He was such a sweet baby!

engagements at the fair

2007-07-24T19:21:00.000-07:00

When Kelly and Phil said they wanted to do their engagements at the fair we thought it would be fun...and it was! I always picture the fair as a romantic place kissing on the rides, playing games and eating cotton candy. That's exactly what we had them do. I love doing photo shoots at places out of the "norm"

Wild flowers

2007-07-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

I had to take my girlie out to my favorite field of wildflowers. She has a pair of pink boots that she loves right now and she wants to wear them everywhere. Sometimes I get so busy doing photoshoots of others. I don't want to forget to capture how darling my daughter is. I love having a little girl!

Angelica and George

2007-07-09T23:37:00.000-07:00

There are so many great things we could say about this couple and their wedding day. Everything was elegant, Angelica and George are great people, the list could go on and on. One of the things that really stood out to me was how much their families loved each other. Every time I turned around they were hugging and giving kisses on the cheek. It was so much to watch them interact. We really had a great day. Here's a couple of pictures from their day. I wish I had more to share but I am still editing away. Angelica you understand that one :)

A baby makes...5

2007-07-07T22:31:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of taking maternity photos for Tara and her great family. They were a blast to photograph! Doesn't Tara look amazing? She was glowing. It's hard to believe this is her 3rd baby. I hope you guys had fun. Little "Mr C" made the best faces. Everytime I see his pictures I smile :)

Trash the Dress

2007-07-06T00:14:00.000-07:00

This photoshoot was so much fun. I've been wanting to do one of these shoots and my friend Gina was willing to get in her wedding dress and go to some crazy places to take pictures. I've had my eye on a teal house that will soon be torn down to build a costco, so the first place we went to was that house. Then we jumped in the car and raced to Big Dalton and of course I made Gina get in the water. She was a bit cold. It was worth it...right Gina?!

For anyone who does not know about "trash the dress" it's so much fun. This would be the first time you would not be worried about getting dirty in your wedding dress. You get in the dress, go somewhere fun, get a bit dirty and have some great pictures when it's all done!

By the way her dress is not trashed. With a trip to the cleaners it will look brand new.