The Cuellar Family

Ah, the Cuellar's...

One of my most favorite families to photograph and spend time with :)

This lovely family has been featured on the blog a couple of years ago and my dear friend, Anita Cuellar and her larger than life, spunky and fun daughter, Annaliese were on the blog last fall.

I always love a reason to celebrate and when Anita called me to tell me her stepdad, Chuck, was graduating from college and wanted to do a celebratory session right after the ceremony, you bet I was there!!

The Cuellar gals are a blast to spend time with and Chuck is such a great guy.  It is always a great time with this family.

Congratulations Chuck on your accomplishments and best of luck to your future, you have earned it!  A huge thank you to Anita for always thinking of me and having me be your photographer, it is truly an honor!

Cristina & lil Nathan, City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, Ukiah, Ca

Well hello there blog, it's been a while...

I have been m.i.a for quite sometime, but for great reasons! Photography has been keeping me so busy, it's wonderful, so fortunate and blessed to be able to do what I love day in and day out and it never feels like work!

Now that it is fall, I have to play catch up on my blog.  Poor blog has had no love for far too long.

That is about to change.

I am so excited to share with you a session from early in April featuring the lovely Cristina, aka my best cousin/friend/everything, and her little man, the always adorable Nathan. It's been a while since I last photographed Nathan, he is now 3 years old! Can you believe it? I can't sometimes.  He has grown up so fast and he talks so much, he is so sweet and loves his mama to pieces.

When I was visiting them in their hometown,Ukiah (if you've never been, you must, it's tucked away in Mendocino County on highway 101, 2 hours north of San Francisco) we went to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas to spend some time together and take a few pictures. I really enjoy going there because it is so peaceful and quiet, beautiful peacocks roam the grounds and it's a nice place to take a stroll and relax.

Enjoy a few goodies here because there is quite a lot more to come in the next few weeks ;)

Tegan turns 1 !

In January my sweet niece, Teagan, turned one! Baby's first birthday is always so fun and special and it has been such a fun 1st year watching Teagan grow into her own cute little self!

It was so neat watching her grow from a newborn to baby to learning how to crawl, very slowly and then almost overnight into a little crawling machine, to suddenly walking when she was just shy of 10 months old. Now she runs...every where! My sister in law, Amanda and I were looking back on her photos from her first year and talking about how she is now becoming a toddler, not so much a baby anymore, and her little personality is shining through now.

She is a character, loves to play, dance, sing, hang out with daddy on the couch, give hugs and blow kisses, snuggle with mommy, she is very daring and is a girly-girl too. She loves jewelry and all things girly, it's so adorable.

I photographed Teagan at home one afternoon because we were designing her birthday invitation and Amanda wanted a few prints that she could use to decorate Teagan's big girl room.

Of course, photographing babies and toddlers is fun and we worked hard to get the images we did, but it was so much fun! Teagan was like a little bullet, running all over the livingroom, me chasing her with my camera and mom trying to keep her outfit looking nice, it was great!

Enjoy my favorites, can't wait to share more from her 2nd year as the months go on!

Family generations and a baby

Photographing the love in this family was such a sweet moment for me. It was even more meaningful to do this mini-shoot on Valentine's Day, the day dedicated to all things "LOVE". We did a 4 generational session and it was so great! Cynthia Flesher (in red) is a dear business friend of mine (and an excellent massage therapist!), she asked if I would come to her sister's home and photograph her, her mother, daughter and granddaughter while her mother was visiting from out of town.

It was such an honor to photograph and meet such a wonderful family. And how cute is little Josslyn?? She was 5 months at the time of our shoot and was as sweet as can be! She is absolutely adored and cherished in this wonderful family.

I am thrilled to share my favorites from our session, family is what life is all about. Enjoy!
 (Left) Josslyn & mom, Jackie(Right) Josslyn & grandma, Cynthia
 Grandmother, Vickie & granddaughter, Jackie   Mom & Daughter, Vickie & Cynthia

Holiday Session, The Perez Family, Stanislaus State, Turlock, Ca.

I loved this family session! The Perez Family is so darn fun and cute, we had a wonderful session back in December. The kids, Dezarae, Savannah and Alexander were very sweet, had a ton of energy (which was great!) and their mom, Angelica, was so wonderful!

During our session, Angelica and I learned we went to the same high school and graduated the same year (2002)! We will be seeing each other at our reunion later this year for sure, hahaha!

I absolutely love what I do and the fabulous people I meet along the way, I treasure each and every person I meet and get to photograph. Some of my favorites from this session are the kids just running around and being totally in their environment-being kids. Those are definitely moments that you can re-live, always look back and remember the great times you had when your children were little, because we all know (whether you're a parent, grandparent, aunt/uncle) how fast kids grow and before you know it they're adults!  I've found it's the little things in life you treasure the most.

What a gift photography is :) Love it!

Holiday Session: The Couto Family, Stanislaus State University, Turlock, Ca.

This family session was so much fun! The Couto family is Laura (mom), Steve (dad) and Persephony, their adorable daughter. We met on a crisp Sunday afternoon for their shoot and had a great time!

One of my favorite families to photograph, they were so willing to have fun and be themselves. Persephony, "P" the name she usually goes by, was a doll! She was such a sweetheart, loved the camera and showed off some of her ballet skills while we were together, it was absolutely precious! Mom and Dad were so great for their own mini-shoot within the family shoot, they are very much in love! And Laura is absolutely beautiful, her style was so fun and cute!

I had to share my favorites from our time together, this family is sweet and loving, it was awesome!