Thursday, November 3, 2011

Look at that lip! - sneak peek from a fall family photo session in Golden, Colorado

I had to share this. These were the last pictures I took during our session and she was so done. I just love these though... look at that lip in the first one!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Meg & Mike's Wedding Re-do in Beautiful Boulder, CO

Meg is a personal trainer who teaches a boot camp class at Google. She is such a nice person (except when she's yelling at you and putting you through a workout).  Her and Mike had a beautiful beach wedding in Mexico and wanted to get dressed up one more time to get some beautiful Colorado mountain shots... we almost got rained out but the rain held out and the lighting and sky were perfect!  Meg you are absolutely beautiful and I am honored to have been able to capture this special time in your life... :)





Sunday, August 28, 2011

Soul Searching


You may or may not have noticed that I've kind of been M.I.A. for the last couple of weeks. I've been reflecting on life, both personal and professional. This business took off faster than I ever thought or hoped it would. I have no doubt that God gave me this gift and the ability to touch so many lives through my photos and the way I see people and the world that surrounds us. I have been extremely blessed by the amount of business, love and support I have received from my husband, friends and family. In an effort to expand on my photography skills and provide great customer service, I have neglected some key areas to getting my business set up correctly and, at times, taken on more work than I should to lead a healthy life.

I like making everybody happy and have a hard time saying no. After somewhat of a breakdown, a lot of prayer, and some late nights talking with my amazing hubby, I have decided I need to say no for a few months. I have maternity/newborn, bridal, family, and engagement photo shoots scheduled over the next few months (through October) and will not be scheduling any additonal photo sessions during this time. If you have recently contacted me about booking a session, I will still work with you to schedule and I will still be posting updates and images from these shoots. I will be using the rest of my time to catch up on some things in my personal life and work on some key elements of my business. Thank you for your support and understanding! Stay tuned for updates...

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Our First Vacation After 5 years of Being Married!!

This September will mark 5 years of marriage for Alvin and I!  It's hard to believe it's already been 5 years.  We are so blessed to have each other through thick and thin.  Some couples grow apart over time but we seem to grow closer and I am extremely grateful for that.  You may or may not know that we never had a wedding or honeymoon and have never taken a real vacation.  We've done some traveling for Alvin's training or fights but that's about it.  I decided that to celebrate 5 years of marriage, this would be a great year to change that.  My parents booked a trip a few months ago to Kauai, Hawaii.  On my 30th birthday (May 27th) I was having breakfast with Mom and Dad (Alvin was teaching Jiu-Jitsu that morning) and they told me about the trip.   They then proceeded to invite Alvin and I to go with them.  They were going to leave on June 14th.... only a few weeks away.  I went home and talked to Alvin and after about a week, we decided we could go!  A week before we were scheduled to leave, I was able to get us a condominium at the same place my parents were staying.   A very nice couple who owns them even threw in a free night!!  In an effort to save some money, we had decided to fly stand-by and all of the flights looked like they would have plenty of space for us to get on..... up until about 5 minutes before they started to board.  We made it to Los Angeles fine but it was not looking good to get to our final destination, Hawaii.  Frustrated and tired, we got a couple of rooms at the Marriott in Los Angeles and deliberated over what to do :(


We were all worried about making it to Hawaii and I did not want to spend our entire vacation at LAX. We got online and booked flights for the following day.  We boarded a plane in the afternoon and after about 6 hours, we landed in Lihue!!!  We were so excited to be there.... until we couldn't find our luggage and our rental car fell through :(  We were all tired, hungry and CRANKY!!  Finally we got our bags and decided to take a cab to the Aston Islander on the Beach where we were staying.  Below was the view from the airport and a photo I took on the lanai (balcony) of our room.

The view from our lanai was beautiful!!!

After getting a good night of sleep, we found a great place for breakfast close by.  They had banana and macadamia nut pancakes with both maple and coconut syrup... mmmmmmm :)  That day my parents went to get a rental car and Alvin and I explored the beach...



We also checked out our beach front pool... that's Alvin's eyes peeking up from the hot tub


When my parents got back from getting the car, we ran into them on the beach and they were doing some exploring of their own (you'll see them below in the safari hats... they look like such tourists).  They walked with us down the beach a bit and we ended up finding our favorite beach spot of the trip.






The next day we went zip lining!!  We've seen this on tv before on shows like the Bachelor (one of our guilty pleasures) and always thought it would be fun.  Well here was our chance.  We got there, checked in and got harnessed up.


There was a group of about 11 of us with 2 guides.  We all hopped in a safari type vehicle and took off up the mountain.  We were about to zip line over the rain forrest where Jurassic Park and Tropic Thunder were filmed.




I have to admit, once we were up there and about to get on the first line, it was pretty scary and we were starting to wonder if this was for us?  Alvin went first...

Then it was my turn... after the first one it was not scary at all!



We had a blast!!  It was so much fun!  We went down a series of lines with the longest one being about 950 feet.  We ended up at the bottom of a lush valley where we had lunch and swam in the fresh water river flowing down from the mountain.  I took this picture just before we jumped in... the water was freezing cold!


We went to a luau one night... and both left with about a dozen mosquito bites :/



I was up for sunrise almost every day.  We were on the East side of the island so sunsets were out of the question.  With the time change, 5:30am there felt like 9:30am back home so I had no problem getting up.  Alvin would get up with me and we'd go walk or run down the beach to get to the best spot.  We found some crabs and rescued one that was stuck on it's back.  These early mornings were some of the most fun and memorable times... and I got some great shots!!
















I really wanted to get a few good pictures of Alvin & I.   Since I am usually the one behind the camera, I got all the settings where I wanted them, and then handed it to my dad.







We went out to dinner with my parents for father's day.  Before dinner I played them a slideshow I had put together.  I wanted to have it complete before mother's day but just didn't have the time so it was a mother's/father's day gift.  They both cried...

That night at dinner, a guy that worked at the restaurant started talking to Alvin and also trains Jiu-Jitsu.  He told us about the gym he trains at and it happened to be about 10 minutes from us and a Gracie affiliated school.  The next morning we went to Powerhouse and met Jared Espina and his very kind mother.  It was a beginner class but Alvin had fun rolling around and was happy to get a workout in.



Some of our favorite moments came from just playing on the beach and enjoying some time together.  Our lives are often so hectic between work, my photography business, Alvin's teaching and training for fights, and helping out with the high schoolers at our church that it's not always easy to find quality time together.  We enjoyed just being together in such a beautiful place.  I am so blessed to have a husband like Alvin :)



The sand was so soft.  It was like a bunch of tiny river rocks






We were headed back from our favorite beach and Alvin found a little spot where he got an idea...  He decided to dig a hole to sit in and then wait for the water to come up and bury him.


It took a few minutes for the waves to reach him but when it did... I think it surprised him LOL!


I was able to get some really neat pictures of Alvin and his amazing physique when I found some fun lighting walking around one night










Before leaving, we drove to see a waterfall and some other beaches.  Then we paid one last visit to our favorite spot





This next tree is one of my favorite images.  Something about the way the light hits the top of it's branches and how it's shadows contrast with the crystal blue water and sky.... ahhhhh









I LOVE orchids!!  I think they're probably my favorite flower...



These little guys were running around on the trees... so cute!


 I have no idea what kind of tree this is but I had never seen anything like it before?





Goodbye Hawaii!


Hello Colorado :)