Mr and Mrs Smith

I met Amanda sometime back in grade school.She grew up in my Grandpas neighborhood and I can remember a couple afternoons spending time in her backyard, laying on the swing set, imagining we could see all of Auburn (i wish I still had that imagination lol). Her dad also a big impact in my childhood and teenage years coached our softball teams growing up.  So it was a nice surprise when I checked my inbox and it was her asking if I would be interested in shooting her wedding. Even though I never did wedding before I was honored by the fact she believed in my ability to capture one of the most important days of her life and I agreed to be her photographer. 

Their ceremony and reception was held at the new Rosehill Community Center in Mukilteo on Saturday April 2.  In the days prior I was starting to get nervous for both them and myself.  Amanda really wanted to have pictures prior to the reception down at the lighthouses overlooking the sound, but it being Washington it was fore casted to rain (and even fore casted to snow at one point). They must have friends or family on the other side because the skies were overcast and not a spot of rain fell down in that area....surrounding Mukilteo was a different story-there was rain, wind and hail everywhere else.

Amanda and Jake's wedding was beautiful, full of love and compassion for both each other and their 2 young children.  Here are a couple photos of their big day....ENJOY!

Almost done catching up!

continuing from yesterdays post....

About a month ago I met 1 year old Dayton at his house in Black Diamond (and I say his house because I'm sure he has control over the household lol).  He was a little doll and I loved being able to capture that milestone for his family.

A little bit at a time....

So, it's been a while....a long while :/  I've been so busy with life, work and photography and am always throwing myself into a new project.  It is time though that I update my blog now :)

The following posts are going to be "catch up" to the present entries.  Here I go (said as I'm stretching and cracking my knuckles lol)....

In early April I was able to take pictures of a coworkers daughter Jannicke who was coming up to visit her from California.  This being my first client who had no previous connections with I was a bit nervous but excited as well.  Once I met her though my fears went at ease...she was such a pleasure to work with.  She's one of those girls that has beauty, brains and quick wit, we had a blast!!  Here is a couple from her photo shoot :)

Meet my Auburn Mountainview High School Senior Rep Karissa!!

I met Karissa when she was just a little girl playing hopscotch in the driveway and playing dress up in my little sisters playhouse.  Time has just flown by and she has grown up to be a beautiful young lady.  I know that the next year will bring a lot of opportunity and growth for me and am excited that I can be apart of her senior year (even if it is just her handing out my business cards lol)

I had the honor of being able to photograph a friend (or I should say coworker) of my little sister.  Anyone that lives in the Seattle area will agree with my next statement in that we have been having very unusual weather lately.  Colder than usual and rainier than usual.  So when we picked downtown for the setting I was a little nervous (but new of some great little areas to run for cover if we needed to).  Although, the weather Gods were once again on my side and it only sprinkled, and we were able to get some fabulous shots....now without further adieu let me introduce the Amazingly Beautiful Natasha who I am proud to say is my Kennedy High School Rep for 2012! 

Soooo I think that is as much as I can handle right now for blogging, lots more to come....In my next post I will highlight my first wedding and give you a little more glimpse into my family life over the Easter holiday!  Until than ta ta!

Where has the time gone?

I told myself I wouldn't neglect this blog and here I am a couple weeks later finally making a new post.

For some reason this holiday season just took a toll on me, and I'm pretty sure I know why.  Between keeping the house up, being a mommy and wife I also manage to work nights for a 911 call center (if you didn't know that already).  Well me being the genious that I am, I thought it was a good idea to stay up 21 hrs and get only 3 hours of sleep on both christmas eve and christmas (i know i'm not the sharpest tool in the shed).  After that stint I was feeling sooo run down and the last thing on my mind was this blog.  Quite frankly though I wish I would have made the time because I had so much that I wanted to post.  I still never got around to posting more pics of lucas's birthday or of my family's cute ornament decorating night.  Oh well, maybe I can redo the decorations for another holiday and share it then :)

Over my last weekend, I finally got out of my funk and went to take pictures of my beautiful sister Krista and her friend Laura.  I really wanted to go to Dash Point State Park, but instead used my dang google maps on my cell which lead me about 20 miles north of that to a culdesac in a not so desirable neighborhood.  So instead we went down to a Redondo Beach to take pictures. 

You can't tell this of Laura from these pictures, but she was very timid in front of the camera.  My sister since this shoot though has told me that Laura now knows what to expect and wants to model for me again **YYIIPPPEE**

Busy Busy Busy

Wow, I don't think this past week could have been any busier.  With working nights and finishing up Christmas shopping and then family get togethers on Christmas eve and Christmas day there was no where to fit in a proper 8 hours of sleep.  So here I am (probably  sleep deprived) and attempting to write an entry of  which I've been putting off for a while.  Even on a typical day I can be scatter brained so if this post seems a little more off , bare with me, the caffeine as officially departed my system.

So here goes (in a not so typical fashion) I'll write about this past week backwards...starting with Christmas and then finally putting the rest of Lucas's first birthday pictures up tomorrow!!

ChRiStMaS

Got off work at 4am went home fell asleep at 5 and then woke at 8:30 to be with the kiddos.  Many think that to be crazy, but that's my life, and would I do it all over again??? In a heartbeat!

Nothing is better then seeing the joy and excitement in a child's eyes, then seeing it on Christmas day.  The weeks and weeks of wondering if they have been a bad boy or girl and if Santa will bring them a gift...what would the gift be? What has mommy and daddy wrapped in the boxes that they have anxiously shaking and squishing over and over again all gets revealed to them on that very morning....and let me tell you we had an exciting morning. 

I think with almost every single present that was unwrapped, Ethan (our eldest) would have the best expression...utter surprise (round mouth and all)

Except for "the pogo stick" story.....and it goes something like this

It's about 8 presents into unwrapping and Ethan comes across a present about 2.5 ft long  and .5 foot wide and says "I think it's my pogo stick!" I being the one who wrapped the presents knows otherwise.  As he starts to tear off the paper ever so vigilantly he's finally able to see the picture of the item in the box.....a RAZOR SCOOTER...which by the way is something that he's been asking for all year since his other batman scooter doesn't go as fast as the big kids in the neighborhood.  Today though is a different story.  He looks down at the gift, up at me, back down at the gift and says...."ugghh...but i wanted a pogo stick, not a scooter".  I couldn't believe what I was hearing, what kind of monster did we raise?? Then I had to remind myself of when I was five and what would I have said or thought if I "knew" what was i was getting only to find out what I "knew" wasn't in actuality what I was getting...probably disappointment.  So we had a talk with him on the meaning of Christmas and how there were a lot of children in the world who aren't as privileged or even get presents.  So with that talk we moved on to open more presents with the same reactions as the picture above :)

And the final present was in the garage (below is our youngest on the toy)

(yes that is the pogo stick)

The next picture is of the boys and I.  I will warn you though, this picture contains an image of a female with 3 hours of sleep, no make up and who has forgotten to look at herself in the mirror lol.

After about 2 hours of gift opening and somehow managing to get them out of there boxes (which by the way should be an Olympic sport) it was off to my parents for breakfast followed by an early dinner at my husbands parents (and for me back to work that night...eeek)

 ****here's the family****

Merry Christmas

Just wanted everyone to know that i'm still here :) It's been a crazy week with the final holiday shopping and last minute craft projects with the kiddos.  But I will post pictures soon (hopefully tomorrow)! 

Somethings to look forward to

*salt dough ornaments*

*Some more pictures of little Lucas*

and of course

*****CHRISTMAS PICTURES*****

But for now Merry Christmas!! 



Lucas's 1st Birthday-sneak peak

Today was a good day, a very good day!  I was able to put my photography taking skills to the test and shoot a Birthday ALL BY MYSELF!!!  If you couldn't tell how excited I am by the caps, well I'm telling you now that I was elated beyond words but nervous as all heck :)   As I was driving to the party, I had butterflies in my tummy and thoughts running wild through my head. I kept on thinking "what if my flash doesn't work" "what if on my camera they're not blurry and I go home and all the pictures are useless" "what if they don't like my work"......what if, what if, what if.  Even with all those what if's I was still excited and went with the flow and had an amazing time, and must say that the pictures turned out beautifully!

Of course I can't take all the credit, Lucas who I was photographing was an absolute doll.  He was always smiling and just a happy child in general.  I am so blessed that I was able to capture this day for his family.  I look forward to hopefully working with them in the future.

Here is a few pictures.....ENJOY!

****  Look forward to my next post with many more pictures to come of this cute little guy ****