Visiting Family in Arizona

My sisters kids are so cute! Maybe I'm particularly found of them because they are my nephews and niece, but I still think they are adorable even when they are having bad days.

We took all four of them to the park for about 20 minutes just before sunset. It was difficult to keep the little one out of the water. And even more difficult to capture all their attention at once. Included are a few images from the day before also.

Senior Portrait Session

Family is so Patient! I photographed my nephew Steven's senior portrait session in October. Since I was so busy with weddings and such I wasn't able to do the final edits until just yesterday. I'm catching up! Yippy!

It was fun catching up with my half sister as we wondered around the park looking for the next location. Steven was a bit shy at first but he relaxed after a while. We came away with some great shots!

Passing of Time

Life stands still when you hear it. Literally you refuse yourself life while you hold your breath as the screaming voice on the other end of the line mutters crazy words that you don’t want to hear. Your mind denies it then immediately moves on to ask abrupt questions. How, when, where, give me details! After the immediate shock dissolves your mind turns to questioning yourself. Could I have done anything to prevent this. Could I have…

If you’ve ever suddenly and/or mysteriously lost a close relative then you are familiar with this thought process that I experienced in November when we lost my mother’s sister. It was sudden, mysterious and completely unexpected.

We have not yet received any satisfying answer to the questions that still haunt our family. But we are all working at moving forward. Just in case you wanted to know why its been such a long time since my blog has been updated.

After the memorial and a brief reception a small group of my aunt’s close friends and relatives gathered at my cousin’s hotel suite. There we enjoyed Aunt Donna’s favorite beverage (good wine; Cabernet) and listened to some of our talented friends play guitar. She would have really had a good time! I created the below memorial brochure for her memorial services.

New York - Baby Cakes and Old Friends

On our last Sunday in the New York area Bryon and I drove to Stanton Island and took the Ferry to Manhattan. There we met up with my old friend Natalie.

First we went for brunch at a little place that was super busy (cant remember the name) but they offered free drinks with their brunch items. Nice! We then walked around little Italy and over somewhere else to a new museum. We hung out with Natalie for most the day dragging her here and there. It was great to catch up!

We also visited a wheat free bakery called Babycakes. I bought a bunch of stuff to bring back to one of my wheat free buddies. Everything we had there was okay (for wheat free) but my friend Michelle makes way better gluten free cupcakes!

The Pouting Child!

Like I said in my previous post; I think my nephews are cute even when they are in the middle of a solo drama production. Avin had lost his temper and found himself writing the same "I will not.." phrase 10 times (big job for a 5 year old). After he was done he started pouting and sought out isolation.
I couldn't resist the temptation to document the event!

Family Portraits Surprise, AZ

My sister and her ever so cute kids live in Surprise Arizona near Phoenix. So I travel out once or twice a year to visit the whole lot of them at once.

There are two things we always do while I am there. One is go to the park cause that gives my sister some quiet time. Two is to take lots of pictures! I think they are the most adorable things on the planet; even when they are throwing a fit.

Usually it is more fun for me to take the pictures than for them to have their picture taken. I guess boys don't like to get cleaned up and have their hair done! Oh, the torture I put them through! LOL! So this year I shot most of my pictures on the go and at the park.

Friends and Horses

My friend Lisa bought a horse (Shalazar) recently! I went out to watch her train him and take pictures. These are the before pictures, before she trains him into shape. I will be back in a few months with after pictures. Hopefully he will be all buff! He is so cute it makes me want to buy one too!

iFly - Indoor Skydiving

My oldest nephew, Isaiah visited from Arizona earlier this week and I wanted to take him to do something really fun. So I booked a session for him and some friends at iFly (an indoor skydiving place) in Union City. I went a few months ago and it is such a blast!
I didn't fly this time but I video taped while some friends took to flying (or as I like to call it levitating).

Its funny though Bryon and Isaiah built a fire in our fire pit the next night and just hung out; I swear they had just as much fun playing with fire as they did at iFly. In this day of high tech its still the simple things that make us smile the longest.

Checkout the video of Isaiah at iFly.

Visiting Family in Arizona

Bryon and I visited my family in Arizona last week and had a ton of fun taking the boys to the arcade and miniature golf. When we returned to California it was a little busy crazy for a while, but this week I'm back with pictures of my sister's ever so cute kids.

Since my sister had her first girl about 7 weeks ago I had been dying to visit Arizona so I could take pictures of the new addition. With 3 boys ages 4-11 she already had her hands full, but she is immensely enjoying her new little gem. Shopping and dressing a little girl is so much fun!

It was my first time flying with my portable studio; which wasn't as difficult as I had imagined. The most difficult part was getting the boys to all be in the same place without wrestling and bring down the backdrop! Even with one backdrop mishap and a couple wrestling matches I was able to get some great shots.