Happy 4th of July! | Everyday Photographer

From my family to yours:-)  

I have fallen SO behind, turns out designing a house, being a photographer, a wife and a mom take a lot of time.  I am hoping to be back on the radar soon! 

It's almost time to start thinking about Fall Family Sessions can you believe it?

Week Seven | Everyday Photographer

 With Valentine's Day this week I had to get on the whole valentine card project for the boys:-)  SO of course I got out a few props and had an impromptu session:-)  They LOVE having their picture taken.  That's good because I wanted them to HAM IT UP!

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This is Daniel BLOWING you a kiss!

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These glasses were a FIND! And this shot is PRICELESS!

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 I was light on images this week:-)  So lucky you, you get to see my India images which I am in LOVE with!  These boys are captivating...

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 THIS was the final project, Valentine's Bookmarks!

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This little one is BEAUTIFUL!

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 Tom had this beautiful woman as his last patient of our time there.  I had to capture her.

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Week Six | Everyday Photographer

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How do YOU sleep?

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Happy 1/2 Birthday Party:-)

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 I had a very good helper in the kitchen this week:-)

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Missing India this week.  These beautiful ladies were on our team, I am so blessed to know them:-)

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Missing these girls this week too.  I learned so much there, but am honestly struggling with how to integrate what I learned there, with our life here.

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Narnia, performed locally by some VERY talented kids, we took Holden it was sort of a date with his parents:-)

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THIS is happening:-)  Plans, penciling in, designing.  It's fun, challenging and a bit scary all at once!

Week Five | Everyday Photographer

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I rented some lenses, one of them a MACRO lens:-)  I LOVE it, but boy my rings are BEAT up!  I guess thats what almost 12 years of marriage gets you:-)  I'll take it!

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These rings are my boys names, on the other side their birthdates:-)  I LOVE these, I wear them everyday.  They remind me to pray always for them and be thankful always for the gifts that they are:-)

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Trying out my flash with my niece MJ:-)

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More practice with the macro:-)  This is my birthstone, my parents got it for me when I graduated Cal Poly.  I LOVE it!  I don't wear a lot of jewelry but the little I do wear I wear everyday, it just feels like me:-)

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THIS smile melts my heart EVERYTIME!

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Someday...Someday THIS will be my view from my kitchen sink, and our living room, and the patio:-) Someday!

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Nothing says "it's been a good day" better than a bonfire and a SUPER dirty boy.  Yes he has freckles, but most of what you see here are NOT freckles:-)  I put them both right in the bath when we got home!

Week Two | Everyday Photographer

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I have been promising to make the boys playdough FOREVER.  So today we did:-)  Daniel wanted peppermint scented and RED for him, BLUE for Holden:-)

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I LOVE hanging with this guy.  He was my helper, my tester, my listener, and just in general my right hand man.  Love these days!

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It was Grandpere's birthday, this little one beat everyone to the punch by blowing out ALL the candles (usually we have one per grandchild:-))

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 Fun night with friends:-)  Had to capture it!

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 A Nest Egg, or Egg Nest I should say.  And it is NOT in the coop!  Rogue Chickens!

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 I had to capture the moon and the trees, I saw it as I was driving home and needed to capture it:-)

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 Too much fun!  These were supposed to be used on New Year's but well it didn't happen.

Week One | Everyday Photographer

In the interest of simplicity, I am going to switch to a weekly post of my everyday images.  Once a week is an improvement in my regular posting, and it isn't SO overwhelming to sit down and pick my favorite images from the week:-)

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 This week we did some cooking, I LOVE cooking and trying new recipes, but I am terrible at photographing said recipes, SO this is my excuse to work on my food photography as well.  This is a favorite recipe in our house! I was actually trying to salvage this beer.  I bought it because long ago I had an amazing pumpkin beer and I am trying to find something that compares, but let's just say...this one DOES NOT! But luckily it added what was needed to the bread and didn't ruin it:-)

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This was a new recipe, SO yummy!  Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate muffins!  A definite repeat!

Snack Time | Everyday Photographer

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Taking a break, having a snack, it's his favorite thing to do!  Especially on outings when food rules are broken and he can have "bars"!

Cousin Time | Everyday Photographer

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Well we still aren't seeing much in the way of winter so we headed up to Tahoe to do some Ice Skating and pretend:-)

Happy New Year! | Everyday Photographer

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

New Year's Eve | Everyday Photographer

Saying goodbye to 2013, and HELLO 2014.  We had the opportunity to celebrate New Year's Korean Style with the India team, and ended the evening celebrating East Coast New Year's with some worship by candlelight.  It was a sweet way to bring in the new year!

Looking Forward to 2014 | Everyday Photographer

We had a little fun, while I was still in my sari I wore to church on Sunday:-)  I love this one I feel like its fitting for looking forward to the new year!  Bring on 2014!  I am excited to see whats in store!

*Disclaimer: Tom shot this:-)  I need a new battery for my remote!

Winter | Everyday Photographer

Winter came while we were gone, and seems to not want to stay now that we are home.  I love the feel of this image, edited of course, in real life it doesn't look or feel like winter right now, sunshine, cold mornings, but warmer days, feels like fall is here to stay a bit.

Greeting | Everyday Photographer

This is the way the sun greeted us every morning in India.  It doesn't rise over the mountains, it peeks through the clouds, ebbing and flowing until the clouds burn off and the sun is full and bright.  This is the rooftop, this place where it seems heaven and earth meet.  I want to capture it here at home, somehow...

Gold | Everyday Photographer

This is the hill to our property, I love the road and the gate, it all feels so country road like:-)  Capturing this in the light of the sun setting to my right, was just right:-)  I can't wait to live on that hill!

Magical | Everyday Photographer

Magical - Well...it was supposed to be. Instead it was a big flop.  But the anticipation at the start was magical, as they dropped the capsule in the water and waited for whatever it was to emerge.  Soon as it took a long time their interest wained, and it was given up upon.  Oh well, some stocking stuffers just don't make the cut:-) But to me days spent entirely in PJs are kind of magical in themselves:-)

Gather | Everyday Photographer

OK This is proving to be harder than I thought:-)  I promise it will not simply be 365 days of life around our house with only our two boys.  But it is the holidays and thats how it goes right now!  

Gather - We are not a family of tradition, but we do GATHER round our Christmas tree, to read the Christmas story in Luke, after breakfast, before we open presents. (Torturous I know:-))

Merry | Everyday Photographer

f4, 1/200 (50mm)

Nothing says MERRY more than dimples and a toothy grin!  LOVE this big brother and his BIG HEART!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!

A Little Challenge...| Everyday Photographer

It's the end of the year, a good time to start a challenge right?  I've been thinking of trying something like a project 365 FOREVER.  But, it always feels like something else to add to my plate! Often times I reach the end of the year and I am ready to put my camera down for a few months.  Last year I put it down for almost 6 months!  Using only my iPhone to capture life.  It's not that I get tired of my camera, I just feel uninspired after the months of capturing beautiful families.  But I would like to grow in my photography, challenge myself in something other than portraits, and in turn learn new skills, techniques, and ultimately become a better photographer and hopefully increase my service to my clients.  So there it is, I am challenging myself for one image a day:-)  I am starting with some prompts, we will see if I stick with that!

December 23 | Gift

The theme today is gift.  We went to India for 12 days, leaving Dec 2.  Upon return we were SICK, I visited the ER the Monday we got back, and Tom was in there on Thursday.  Armed with antibiotics we are finally feeling better and able to spend time with our two most precious gifts ever.  

This was taken with my new flash.  I am primarily a natural light photographer, but it's time to embrace the flash:-)  I literally just put it on my camera and started taking pictures:-)  Now it's off to ACTUALLY figure out how to use it!

Just some fun! | Everyday Lifestyle Photography

What we do when it rains in our house:-)

Yum | Capturing the Everyday

I am on a new food adventure. Investigating where our food comes from, how its grown/raised. Making our own bread, growing a garden, eating at home more, and cooking healthy dinners. Thanks to the makers of Food, Inc., and Jamie Oliver!

recipe found here