Twinlove! Meet Aven and Easton...

This morning was a very special morning for me.  Today I got to {finally} meet and photograph Aven and Easton - the beautiful twin babies of Allison and Marc.  Aven and Easton were due June 9, but decided to prove that they were running the show and made their debut on April 28.  Mathematicians know that that means these little tikes were preemies, which could have meant a whole bunch of trouble for their health and doctors anticipated a long hospital stay.  But once again, they had to remind us who was in charge!  These two have such fighting spirits - they were released from the hospital waaay ahead of schedule and are both so healthy and strong.  They certainly have the lungs and the appetites to prove it ;)

Soooo...I know you all could care less about what I have to SAY.  It's all about the photos right?!  So let's just get to it...

20 fingers and 20 toes!

The handsome Easton.  Hint: take a real close look at that glove ;)

I have a feeling these beautiful blue eyes are gonna get him in trouble with the ladies someday!

And let's not leave out the little beauty - Miss Aven.

Some more twinlove!  I love this one because I think it looks like Easton's telling Aven that everything's going to be OK.  :)

Allison and Marc, thank you for inviting me into your lovely home and allowing me the honor of photographing Aven and Easton.

Sunday Morning...

Song of the day: Sunday Morning by No Doubt

Saw No Doubt in concert last Friday and just as I expected, it was amazing! I just love this band – I love their music, their vibe, their energy, and their friendship. Gwen is still one tough chick and she rocks out; not to mention, she looks flippin amazing. Just another reminder that I need to really step up my physical renovation. I need to reorganize my workout playlist on my iPod, add some more cardio to my routine, and just do it. I know I can…and I will. Keep ya posted on the outcome.

Friday Randoms…

I chew gum in phases. I’ll go months without chewing a single piece, and then once I do, I’m chewing two or three pieces daily, for a good week. After that, it’s usually eons before I touch another piece. Why is that?

I have come to the conclusion that HD is a hoax. Either that, or the difference between HD and…what, LD (low def)? That the difference only registers if you are of the male variety of our species. We recently purchased a new 47” HD TV, at the husband’s insistence that HD was the bees knees; that once I saw the diff, my eyes would kneel and praise the Vision Gods. So he gets it up, on, and…well the convo goes something like this:

Me: It looks like normal babe

Husband: Really? You really think so? You can’t see the difference?

Me: Huh-uh.

Husband: Rea…no. Maybe…well, you’ll see it when I put on a blu-ray.

He grabs on the first blu-ray dvd he sees and plays it (Pirates of the Caribbean btw)

Husband: Ok now you HAVE to see the change in quality.

Me: Huh-uh.

Husband: {frustrated sigh} Really?!

I’ve been slacking on my 30 by 31 list. So I’ve decided to start a couple new sections (ex “song of the day” and Friday Randoms). There will be more post-blog-op! this will address the “blog more” item on my list. Already been working on more time with the fam. What else should I start on?

I’ve been craving some Thai food for the last couple o’ weeks. Anyone know of any really good places in or near Chula Vista? Comment me below or shoot me an email.

In other news – the blog is being revamped and something splendid this way comes. I am so excited to give this blog a facelift. Shoot – it’s getting a facelift, lipo and a tummy tuck as far as I’m concerned. Can’t reveal anymore details…but you will like. I promise.

Interested in a photo shoot with Sweetface Photography? There are limited openings left in June (one or two spots) and we’re starting to book into July. Email today to book your session!

That's all for now kids! I have my next session on SUNDAY MORNING - newborn twins, so make sure you come back to check out the sneak peeks. I guarantee it will be an overabundance of adorableness.

Baby on board...

Today I had the chance to meet and photograph yet another awesome family.  Karina and Doug have an amazingly adorable two-year old named Sienna, and are expecting a new little girl...in about a week!  She was on the fence about getting maternity shots done, but I'm so glad she jumped right on in because she has such a beautiful (in every sense of the word) family.  Karina also happens to be an amazing artist - you can check out her amazingness here. 

Well what are we waiting for?  Let's get to those sneak peeks!

The beautiful mommy herself.

The adorable miss Sienna.  Doesn't she look like a doll?

 

Doug and Karina - working it! 

Karina, you make pregnancy look easy and nothing short of beautiful.  I had such a great time with you Doug, and Sienna today, and I cannot wait to meet your little girl on the way.

Lucky...

Vanessa and I go way, way back.  Good ol' CP alum - we went to the same high school, graduating only a year apart.  I bet if I told her then that she would marry the man of her dreams just two years after I graduated, she would have laughed that big, happy, infectious laugh of hers and told me I was silly.  But that very thing happened.  10 years ago Vanessa and Jair married in Heritage Park, and to celebrate such a wonderful event, we went back to the exact spot where they exchanged "I do"s.  Can you get any more romantic than that?  Well...Jair can, but more about that later.  If I could sum this couple up in three words?  Fun, affectionate, and loving.  It is very clear in the way they interact, both verbally and physically, that they are still in love all these years later.

Ok, enough chatter.  Let's get to the goods.  Here's your sneak peeks...

I love that they decided to go for a vintage, victorian-esque look, and I'm finding that the black and whites are really working.  See for yourself...

Can you say gorgeous?

Vanessa - I titled this post "lucky" because at one point when I was photographing you, Jair whispered in my ear that he was so very lucky to be married to you.  See...I told you he could up the romantic anty.  ;)

Jair and Vanessa...I hope you both enjoy your sneak peeks, and here's to another 100 years.

Introducing our 2009 Sweet Face Contest Winner!

Some of you may remember this contest I announced a couple of months ago, in order to celebrate the launch of our website.  Well, yesterday I got to shoot the winner of that contest, two (almost three) year old Hayden.  He and his momma made the drive all the way from Long Beach for our session; unfortunately, getting a little lost along the way, but that proved to be a blessing in disguise.  See, when I showed up to our meet spot, the May grays were in full force.  But by the time they got there, the sun had just started shining through the clouds.  I like to think it was waiting for Hayden, to make sure we could get great shots of this adorable little guy!

Sonya, thank you again for making the long trip down for our session.  It was such a pleasure to meet both of you.  Hope you enjoy your sneak peeks!

Before we get to Mr. Hayden and the rest of the sneak peeks, I just want to say to Sonya, "I TOLD YOU SO"! ;)  Momma thought we could photograph Hayden without her getting wet.  Ha!  By the way, is she not freaking gorgeous?

Proof that mr. handsome can hang with the real models!

Umm yeah - do I or do I not get to shoot the most adorable kids?  If this ain't a sweet face, I don't know what is.

Erin, Jesse, Norah, and Peter Rabbit

Yesterday afternoon, the weather was beautiful - sun shining, temperature nice and warm.  Yesterday evening, the skies decided to stick their tongue out at me, crank the cold wind up and hid the sun behind a mass of clouds.  Still, I met up with yet another gorgeous family and we decided to ride it out and see what we could make of the session.  Erin and Jesse are parents to Norah and have a little boy on the way, who they've taken to calling Peter Rabbit.  :)  Can I just say I am SO glad that we decided to go for it?!  Immediately after each session, I always do an initial run through and make a list of the photos I know I want to use.  Going through their images I was stoked - by the time I finished the initial list, I had more than double the amount I normally have.  TONS of great images to use...but then it helps a lot when you have a family as beautiful as this one.

Here are your sneak peeks!

They say a photo is worth a thousand words.  But sometimes all you really need is one, and this one, I'd have to say, screams "joy".

I just love how Jesse is looking at Erin in this one.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking.  I get the most beautiful clients, don't I?  Take a look at Erin working.  it.  out!!!

Erin, Jesse, and Norah - I had a great time photographing your growing family yesterday.  Even had fun helping miss Norah find seahorses, seashells, rollie pollies, and ants!  Looking forward to meeting your "Peter Rabbit" this summer!

Happy Mother's Day!

Well today is Mother's Day - a day we set aside just to celebrate and honor our mothers.  If you've been reading the blog this past week, you know I've sort of been honoring a little every day over the last week or so.  I know it's been said that the day has become too commercialized and that may be true for some.  But I've always felt that no matter what the big greeting card companies and florists may be thinking on their end ($$$), what really only matters is what you're doing on your end.  This and every holiday is about what YOU make it, and for me, today is specifically about my mommabear.  

Today we'll be going to mom's church and then going to out for a family dinner.  Maybe even going out to catch the new Star Trek movie.  Hopefully all of you get the chance to spend time with or at least talk to and tell your mom's how much you love and appreciate them today.  

As I look back on my life
I find myself wondering...
Did I remember to thank you
for all that you have done for me? 
For all of the times you were by my side
to help me celebrate my successes
and accept my defeats? 
Or for teaching me the value of hard work,
good judgement, courage, and honesty? 
I wonder if I've ever thanked you
for the simple things...
The laughter, smiles, and quiet times we've shared? 
If I have forgotten to express my gratitude
For any of these things,
I am thanking you now...
and I am hoping that you've known all along,
how very much you are loved and appreciated. 
Author Unknown 

And to close, A Song For Mama for my mom and all of my friends and readers who are moms.  Happy Mother's Day!

A Song For Mama @ Yahoo! Video

One day 'til Mother's Day...

...but I did it again; got too busy to update yesterday so I'll be listing both yesterday's and today's versions of "why I love my mom".  So without further ado...

Two reasons I love my mom...

*I love how smart my mom is.  She always seem to know the answer.  Even if she doesn't, she works and does the research to find out what the answer is.

*I love my mom because of her faith.  Her faith in God; her faith in her family; her faith in people in general.   Most importantly, her faith in herself.

One last reason why I love my mom...

* I love my mom because she loves me.  I know, you're probably thinking well, she's your mom she HAS to love you.  But the fact of the matter is - no, she doesn't HAVE to love me.  There are women out there who are, in fact, disconnected from their children; who leave their kids behind, or stick around because they think they have to but resent and take it out on those kids, or even worse.  That's not my mom - my mom loves me, my brothers, my husband, and my daughter.  She is and always has been very present in our lives - affectionate, caring, and supportive.  She has been there through it all - making the bad good, and the good better.  And I am immeasurably grateful for her.

love you so much mom.

final mother's day post tomorrow - not just for my mom, but for all my mom friends.  until then...

Three days 'til Mother's day...

...but I wasn't able to log in and update yesterday, so I'll be posting both the 4-days and 3-days segments this evening. But ha - you're still only gettin' one teaser photo! Yeah - I'm mean like that. lol

Four things I love about my mom...

*I love how loving, forgiving, and open-hearted my mom is. Mistake after mistake, my mom will ALWAYS let you wipe the slate clean. She always sees the silver lining, and when you only remember all the bad things about a person or thing, she can always seem to remember at least one good thing about them/it. She has really taught me to stay objective in most situations.
*I love when my mom cooks! She, of course, hates cooking altogether, but when she does it, it’s always good. Have you had her spaghetti? No – you need to. But I’m not inviting you because that means less for me. ;)
*I love that my mom is patient with most anything and anyone – except when it comes to her dining experience. She has been known to make us get up and walk out of a restaurant if the service is s-l-o-w as all get out. Some waiters have tried to convince her to stay as they notice her walking out, but to no avail. Once she’s up – dude, she’s out. I crack up about it every time. Not that this is a regular occurrence or anything.
*I love that my mom believes in me and fully supports my wanting to pursue photography. When I told her my ultimate goal of creating this business for myself and eventually doing it full-time, she simply told me, “And you will.”

Three more things I love about my mom...

*I love that she gets so excited when she buys us something. I remember when we kids were mere elementary schoolers and we still did the big “school clothes shopping” extravaganza. You remember it! Anyway, we would always come home and do fashion shows. She would “make” us go try on every single thing we bought and show it to her. “make” = we pretended we didn’t want to do it, but oh we so did. ;) sorry for the grief mom!
*Speaking of excitement – I love how excited my mom can get over some of the most random things. It doesn’t take much to entertain her (eh-hem…she loves most anything on the sci-fi channel. lol). Take her love of Fridays, for instance. I mean, we all love Fridays, but I’m convinced none love it as much as she does. The woman squeals in delight, sings, claps, and dances every.single.Friday. Well, every working Friday.
*I love my mom’s honesty. She will support when I’m right and let me know when I’m wrong. She can check me and uplift me at the same time. I really dig that about her.

Love you mom!

Five days 'til Mother's Day...

...and five things I love about my mom.

I love my mom's sense of self-confidence.  I am blessed that she has always seemed to carry herself in a way that gave absolutely no regard to what anyone thought of her.  Like she says, "they don't pay my bills".

I love my mom's sense of humor.

I love how animated and alive my mom is.  I don't think she knows it, but she lights up a room.

I love that my mom is the kind of grandma who will sit and read a book with my daughter one minute, and be up jumping and dancing around with her in the next.

I love that my mom will bail out on working out with me; playing hooky with me, shopping at Target or eating at Costco.  :)

Love you mom!

Six days 'til Mother's Day...

Six things I love about my mom...

I love that my mom is truly a love-with-your-whole-heart kind of person.  

I love her devotion to our God.   

I love that she always seems to know the right thing to say and when to say it.  

I love that she loves Coca-Cola just as much as I do.   

I absolutely love her big smile and even bigger laugh.  I especially love when she's laughing so hard that she's crying, and the fact that it doesn't take much to get her laughing.

I love that she is the kind of person who will save you the last piece of cake, even if she had been thinking about it all day.

Over the days leading up to this year's Mother's Day, I will be writing a little bit about the woman who I am blessed to be able to call 'Mommabear'.  It will be a little difficult - not because I'll be hard-pressed to find the words, but because it will be hard to do without tears.  Already, I'm losing that battle.

And because a post seems so 'blah' without a photo, here's a sneak peek of part of the gift not just for my mom, but for all the other special 'moms' in my life...

Love you mom!